New Mobile Report OMLAN issue Gundam
by Jinpachi
Summary: One hundred and Fifty four years after Gundam Wing, the world is yet again in another dangerous predicament. Six young pilots must again take up arms to fight for their planet.
1. Default Chapter Title

**New Mobile Report **

**OMLAN Issue Gundam**

_In the year 349 after colony, the militaristic OMLAN foundation has in essence taken over the continents of Earth. As they quest for complete world and space control, Gundam Development facilities process the raw material known as Gundanium into useable metal for the construction of Mobile suits. The purpose of these so called "Gundams" has been reserved for those specified pilots and the hgh officials of the foundation themselves. Not even the scientists or developers of these doomsday weapons know their intended purpose._

**Chapter 1**

**The awakening Gods**

** **

Omaha, Nebraska

****"I feel a sneeze comming on."

Lucian Dysvek rubbed his nose, the discomfort building as the dust welled up in his nostrils.Slowly, yet surely the sneeze built up upon itself, until it released itself in a violent lash of snot laden air forced from his mouth and nostrils. As he recovered, he wiped the remaining snot from underneath his nose with the handkerchief from his back pocket. "Hey Doc, whatdaya think? White to red or White to yellow?" He alternated the .3' white couplet between the red and yellow circuit.

"White to yellow, Lucian. The propulsion systems will never work the other way around," Doc Windstrom shouted as he glared against the bright lights to the platform the 14 year old was perched on, 24 feet off the ground. "Watch out when you connect it, the wire may spit at you."

"Spit at me? What is it? Some sort of camel?" Lucian called back, smiling slightly as he carefully connected the wire to the circuit. Suddenly, a large shower of sparks poured from the connection, He nearly jumping off the platform in surprise, only to hear the other seasoned veterans cracking up. "THAT THING TRIED TO KILL ME!?!" He screamed, as even more of the electricians and systems specialists realized what had happened and joined in the laughter. Even Doc Windstrom was chuckling. "You could have TOLD me it'd try and burn my hair off! Spit my ass. . .more like fry."

"Now, now my boy. . .Try the blue to red," Doc Windstrom smiled, rubbing his hands together almost deviously. 

"Is it going to do something this time?" Lucian smirked, rather cautiously picking up the .5' blue power couplet."Or is it going to be nice and let me put in the cockpit power supply?"

"Nothing should happen, just do it."

"Fine, fine.It's your funeral," Carefully he plugged in the couplet into the extension slot and waited. A faint hum reverbrated from the connection, the lights began to turn on one by one inside the mechanism. "Wait," Lucian said, after a moment of realization."That would have been MY funeral!"

"Yes, yes, my little apprentice," Doc Windstrom said under his breath, a rather sinister look playing across his face. "I have high plans for you. Not just working on the greatest Mobile suit design since the early wars, but even greater. There was a lot to learn from the early scientists, yes. . ." A wrench then broke his self-informance, bounced off of his shiny, bald head with a thud.

"OOPS!" Lucian called from his lofty position. "Sorry Doc! It kinda slipped." 

"Lucian! YOU. . .YOU. . ." Doc Windstrom shook his fists angrily. "GET in the cockpit, you stupid little destructive brat!" 

"What ya want me to do? Test out the guidance system?" Lucian asked, carefully edging himself along the narrow boards towards the opening to the cockpit. "I don't know if I'm the best person for it, Doc. I might break your little baby."

"JUST get the hell in there!!!" Doc screamed. He turned his back and began to walk towards the control center at the opposite end of the hangar. As he stormed away, Doc Windstrom mumbled obscenities, rubbing the knot forming on the top of his head. About one hundred steps brought him to the hangar control center, where several OMLAN Security guards manned the cameras and other equiptment. "Collapse the walls." Several of the guards nodded, then went to work at the displays.

After taking his time getting to the open cockpit, Lucian took one look down over the edge. Falling down was something he didn't want to do. Below the platform, almost exactly, the legs of the Mobile suit stuck out, looking much like the boots of a goliath fighter. The left hand held the blunt ended 23 foot long pole, that when swung, protruded a variable neo-thermal(cold instead of hot) blade while the right hung free, the projectile shield, the Dragonbayne attached to the wrist, able to spread itself to cover up to 75% of the Mobile suits body and also to be flung at an attacker, the razor sharp edge reinforced with both diamond and Gundainium alloy. The sleek, violet blue, white, and black armor shone as the lights within the hangar, almost showing nothing of the construction and effort it took to shape the Gundainium. Although he could not see them, the dragonesque wings were neatly folded behind the shoulders, to be unfurled during flight. The position he stood at didn't allow much of a view of the head of the Mobile suit, but the golden double V stuck out from just above the mid forehead, the helmet covering the "Head" appearing much like a blocky head of a dragon, the top lip hanging out over the eyes, the V reminiscent of horns, and fanned sensors to detect incoming aircraft and messages appeared much like the feathered ears, right now folded in the "Rest" position that could be spread manually to allow further reception. The ultimate in Tactical/Stealth/Defense, the XX0TF-03, the third current model of these "Gundams" stood majestically, capable of liquid, air, and vacuum battle over 150 feet in height. 

After the look around, Lucian sat down in the piloets seat, pulling the helmet over his head. Automatically the airseal door shut with a hiss of air. As Lucian switched on the systems, the walls of the Facility broke down, one by one, falling beneath the ground so that the concrete surface of the hangar became a small platform. The night had enshrouded the plains of flowing grass in the Omaha Gundam Development Facility. Ten miles by ten miles of nothing but plains lay in every single direction. 

"Hey Doc." Lucian said, switching the communications systems for short range. He tried vainly to blow a bothersome chunk of ruddy red hair out of his eyes. "What's with this helmet? It's crushing my hair. From what I see it's not even needed."

"When you're the full time pilot and you know how to control this thing, ONLY then you can think about taking it off. What would the use of this whole thing be if you were to kill yourself by not wearing that 'Useless' helmet?" Doc Windstrom replied. "Now. I'm going to have you preform some relatively simple maneuvers, Lucian. First, unfold the wings and Turn on the Neo-thermal Lance." Within two seconds, the light blue jet from the lance flared out ten feet, the wings streamed out section by section until they both stood, fully unfurled in the wind.

"That was too easy! Give me a challenge!" Lucian chuckled, gripping the dual flight sticks. The Gundam had adopted a menacing lower stance, legs bent, head lowered, Lance held in both hands(which appeared more like sharp mishappened clawed paws then hands, while the wings fluttered back and forth rather unforgivingly. "Hey Doc, before ya give me anything else to do, what'd you call this monstrocity?"

Doc Windstrom thought for a minute before replying "It's called the Icelance"

"That's so weak," Lucian mumbled. "I woulda called it something different, like Dragoneer, Gargoyle, or something really screwy like Goofy-sumo-wrestling-robot-that-steps-on-small-japanese-cities"

"It stays as is, boy," Doc sneered, his displeasure obvious through the tone of his voice. "The next thing I want you to do is set the communications level to full and identify the farthest distance it can reach at the clearest reception."

"I'm right on it boss," Lucian smiled. "Though I still think the name sucks."

***

Kyoto, Japan

"Crack". The loud bone crunching sound drew Garou's attention back to the fight. Of course he didn't see it as that much of a fight. A new tough transfer student arrived last week and made it his business to generally make Garou's life hell. So this time around when he took the first hit, he thought it better to just lie their and curl up, hoping Kazami would finish soon. He was surprised to say the least when the beating stopped. "Humph". Kazami landed right in front of Garou, his face smeared in blood and his eyes glazed in anger.

"Get up!" said a voice from above Garou. He immediately recognized it.

"Eji?!" said Garou as he glanced up to the voice of his friend.

There stood Eji, his long blonde hair a bright contrast to his school uniform, not to mention the veritable sea of Asian faces around them. Kazami spat as he stood up and swore in a northern Dialect. His spit mingled with the blood as it hit the ground making it seem like a scarlet tear. Kazami smiled a blood smeared smile.

"I hardly think my mothers affairs are any concern of yours." Replied Eji stepping between the bully and Garou.

"I'm sorry to have upset you long haired fagot" replied Kazami. "Don't like me beating up on your girlfriend?!" added Kazami as he sneered at Garou.

Eji stood unblinking letting his rage boil just below the surface. Garou jumped up and cursed at Kazami.

"Fuck You Kazami!!" shouted Garou as he stood behind Eji. Garou held his wrist and glared across at Kazami. Eji glared back and let his hands drop. Eji walked away with Garou behind him. The people parted from them and Eji walked through the crowd, his hair blowing quietly across his face. Garou stalked behind Eji and ignored the taunts and stares.

Kazami watched the two leave and then laughed. He looked around and then walked off himself still laughing, as the crowd slowly dispersed like an insubstantial fog.

***

Eji blankly stared at Garou. His friend nodded his head in affirmation.

"He said what ?" asked Eji. He walked around the garden table and turned his back to his friend.

"He invited you, _us_, to his party. I know it's hard to believe but he told me personally." Said Garou shaking his head as if to assure himself of that fact.

Eji thought for a moment, then briskly turned back around. "Tell him I won't be there then. I'm not getting involved in his affairs." Said Eji as he turned around to walk farther into the gardens.

Garou face faulted. He turned back and walked behind Eji. "What the hell. You'd just leave me on the spot like that !" said Garou mildly angry. He stood behind Eji and covered his chest with his crossed arms. "Come on Kazami is different now. He's not the complete ass he was before." Added Garou as Eji turned to face his friend.

"I suppose he's a perfect gentleman now." Eji said sarcastically.

"Oh, ha ha. Seriously though Eji , it will be THE celebration of the year." Garou said as he shook his arms in the air, as if praising some God. "And _we've_ been invited !" added Garou with a slight arm flourish. Eji let out a small laugh.

"That is exactly why I don't want to go." Eji said as he walked away from his friend.

Garou grumbled then left without another word. Eji turned back and was not surprised to find a small white invitation on the table. Eji eyed the card then promptly placed it in his pocket. Turning he headed into the house.

"I wonder what Kazami is up to…" thought Eji as he walked up the stairs of the back porch balcony. Eji's thoughts wandered back to the past couple weeks as he climbed the stairs to his room. Kazami was a constant thorn in his side since the first moment he met him. He was a Kendo champion at his old school and tried to assert his superiority in Kendo class with Eji. The lesson of humility Eji taught him that day was not well received. Since then he attacked him subtlety throughout the school. His labs were tampered with, and Phys Ed class became increasingly physical around Kazami. He even went so far as to trash Eji's locker. Eji let this all slide however, his grades had already slipped and he didn't care much for any more negative class performances. Yet the harassment suddenly stopped last week. Kazami was far from being kind yet he was no longer the annoyance he once was.

"And now this." Eji said aloud as he opened the door to his room. The room looked like any other guest room in the mansion. You could barely discern that any certain person lived here. Except three items. Next to the bed stand stood Eji's kendo practice swords, his ring sat on the bed stand right next to an ancient looking picture frame. Inside was an old picture, the edges frayed by fire of some sort and the picture holding a yellowish tint to it. The picture itself was of a beautiful woman holding a small child with the father behind her in a hug.

Eji pulled out the invitation and looked at it. He glanced out the window to the setting sun on the horizon. He let out a slight sigh and grabbed the ring of the table. Putting it on he grabbed the invitation and headed downstairs. A couple minutes later the ancient picture frame watched out the bay window as Eji sped off the estate on his motorcycle.

***

Colony 12

Dacota's eyes slowly closed. Instantly they snapped back open with renewed energy in them. o0(I can't fall asleep now. Not now.) Quickly, he focussed all of his will into what he was doing. His tools moved swifty across the wiring panel, small sparks coming off of the wires as he connected and reconnected wires. His eyes were glazy with lack of sleep.

"Dacota." It was her. He could tell, even from this far away, and even though it was only a whisper, that it was her voice. He knew it that well.

"Nadia." He said her name under his breath. He unhooked his harness, and began dropping quickly. A seventy-foot drop later, he landed on a small building platform. Jumping off the edge, he travled another seventy feet to another. Yet one more seventy foot drop, and he landed on one knee on the metal floor by the foot of his Gundam.

"Thats the third time you've come down like that today. That has to hurt." Her smile was warm, although seemingly full of worry.

"It's starting to tingle." He managed a half smile which disappeared as fast as it came. "Is there something you need, Nadia?"

"I'm starting to worry for you. You've been working on this thing for four days straight now, with no sleep. You can't handle that." Nadia reached behind her to a back-pack and pulled out a small brown sack. "And you haven't eaten either. Here, take this." She handed the bag full with a cold lunch to him. "Why don't you take a break from this, huh? Come with me. I'll clean you up, let you have a few hours sleep and then we'll have a short language lesson. We havn't had one since you started this....don't you remember how much you enjoyed them?"

Dacota sighed and lowered his head. Nadia was his language instructor. Well, his language instructor for the past four years. Up untill then, Nadia's mother had been his instructor.

Nadia had been schooled in language since she was a very small child, and she had taken to it very quickly. She had mastered almost all human languages by age 12, which was about the same time her mother had fallen ill. She took over her mothers duties as Dacota's language instructor when she died, and has been so ever since.

"I can't stop now. Not when I'm so close." Dacota turned back to his mecha, determined to finish it before the night was over. As he reached the rope ladder on the leg of his Gundam, a wave of weakness shot through him. His head went light, and he nearly blacked out. He turned back to Nadia. "Maybe....maybe I do need a rest."

It didn't take long for him to devour several large plates of food, and then fall fast asleep on Nadia's bed.

o0(He doesn't even realize that he's killing himself.) She almost laughed. o0(His whole life has been here. With me, and my mother. He's never been so fanatical about anything as he is about this Gundam thing. Why?) She pondered the situation for a few moments more before falling asleep in the small chair next to the sleeping Dacota.

~6:30 a.m.~

Dacota's eyes snapped open the second the alarm went off. "WHAT TIME IS IT!?" He jumped at the clock and nearly ripped it off the wall. "Six thirty!? DAMN!" He dashed at the door, but his way was blocked by Nadia.

"Where are you going so early in the morning?" She knew, but asked anyway.

"Do you realize that I slept ALL NIGHT LONG? I'm almost eight hours behind now!" He pushed by her and stepped into the hall.

"WAIT! ...I want to ask you something..." She had a troubled look in her eye.

Dacota turned around and stopped. He hesitated for a moment. He nodded, as he walked slowly back down the hall to where she stood. He knew what question was coming.

"Why are you obsessed with this mobile suit?" She looked confused and upset.

"Nadia. I remember when I was little. Your mother would read me stories. Of far away places, where kings ruled and heros sought out evil. I remember one story the most...

*....she looked at her lover with tears in her eyes. "If you leave, you'll find your death. I know you will."

He shook his head no. "When I leave, I will find myself. In battle, I will find myself. I will find the being inside me that cries to be heard, but can never quite seem to find its way to the front of my mind. He erges me to destroy my enemy, and promises me that killing is not wrong when the ones you kill are evil. The dreams will become reality, and all falsehoods will be gone. I'll know myself then. I'll know what blackness lies in the depths of my heart, and I will find the will to conquer it. And when I find myself, I will return to you. And we will be happy."*

....Nadia. The Devils Cause will show me who I am. I will find myself. Through it, I will learn my past. I will find out my deepest fears, and learn to conquer them. I will know my reason for being. I've always had this empty space...where something is missing. I know the Devils Cause will show me my future and why I am here. And...I may even become a hero. And when I find myself, I will come back. I promise." He began walking towards the Level 3 hangar.

"WAIT!" She grabbed his arm and spun him around. Looking deep into his eyes, she held back tears. "Tell me....how did the story end?"

He looked towards the ground. "He....he was killed. He never returned." He tore away from her grip then, and moved quickly to the Level 3 hangar.

Nadia cried.....

Howard sat looking over a computer read-out. o0(Hmmm....interesting. It looks like the modifications that Dacota did to the engines increased performance by 23%....Doc J will never beleive that.) He continued looking at the papers, intrigued at what he found. Dacota approached him quietly.

"It's finished." The young mans voice came. Howard turned around to look at the grease covered youth.

"Finished?" Howard blinked. "How? It's only been a week..."

"It's finished." Dacota repeated. "Ready for land, air, or space (AUTHORS NOTE: the Devils Cause isn't water freindly...it probably wont be untill it's dunked in water and Dacota finds out it doesn't handle well ^_^;). And I'd like to thank you for helping me modify the engines to my specifications. I saw that they could be made to run cooler on less power, and produce more speed."

"No problem." Howard smiled. "Doc J said I couldn't help you BUILD the gundam...he never said I couldn't help you UPGRADE the gundam. And besides...he told me, and I quote, ' The Devils Cause is the fasted moble suit EVER...the engines were designed for speed never seen before in any mobile suit.' When I tell him that you were able to redesign his best engines, and make them 23% better, I can only picture how far his jaw will drop. Your simply amazing kid..."

Dacota smiled. He trusted Howard. Perhaps, he trusted howard more than anyone else he knew. Howard had tought him everything he knew about technology and especially mobile suits.

"Lets have a look at it..." Howard said with excitement. He quickly hurried to the Level 3 hangar. It would be his first look at the completed Gundam, and he could only imagine how spectactular it would be.

The smooth polished gundanium armor covered every inch of the massive behemoth...it's blood red and black paint making it's dark visage even darker. The engines stood out right away as the first thing Howard noticed. They were huge...so big that they almost looked like gigantic metal wings, mounted on the back of the gundam. Following the right arm up from the wrist, a massive blade....extending even taller than the head of the gundam.... protruded from the elbow. The left arm looked just as impressive, it's huge triple claw (two on top like fingers with a third on bottom like a thumb) replaced what would have been the left hand. The left arms' claw had another feature hiden to the eye...an extender. On the command of the pilots controll, the left arms claw would shoot out...extending well farther than the entire length of the gundam to tear through armor or to grip a far away adversary and pull him in closer. The Sheild Generator could be seen mounted on the outside of the left arm, a small round object in the middle of the forearm capable of creating an energy sheild that could offer 10% coverage of the gundam, used just like any other standard sheild. Half of the energy swords' handle poked out from its mount on the left shoulder, easily in reach of the right hand. One last thing caught Howards eye....the head. It's face looked like something out of Transformers, a large metal wedge in the middle of the face replacing what should be a nose and mouth and one single red eye spanned across the face. But what really stood out about the head, was the helmet...it appeared as normal as could be....except for the large devils horns curving off of it, the base of each horn covering almost the whole side of the gundams head and then extending upward to fine points which almost met above the head.

Howards eyes looked almost as if he was afraid. "It....it looks evil."

"It's a weapon of destruction...it's not supposed to look like a Furby." Dacota joked. Howard was the only one that Dacota ever joked with...maybe he was only comfortable around him.

"True...." Howard pondered a minute. "One thing bothers me...there are no projectile weapons. No guns, no cannons, no missles of any kind."

Dacota nodded. "The Devils Cause is built for my abilties...and I show extrordinary reflex's and reaction time. It was built primarily for speed, utilizing my unique abilties and aptitude for speed. In short, it was made for close range battle, won with speed not firepower."

Howared grinned. "Yeah....this thing looks pretty deadly to me. But, you wont be able to fight all your battles close range. I realize that you'll be able to avoid attacks with your speed, but you'll need to fight back...and if you can't get within your weapons range, you can kiss your ass goodbye."

The youth thougth for a moment, and then nodded in agreement.

Howard smiled. "For now, don't worry about it. But I'll be working on a long range cannon for the Devils Cause...I'll let you know when it's finished. Maybe we can side-mount it or something...."

"Thanks..." Dacota turned away and started to move towards the mess hall.

"No thanks nessecary." Howard looked the gundam over again, top to bottom. Howard pondered the name of the gundam...Devils Cause... o0(Certainly looks like the devil to me....). At that moment, a cold chill ran down his spine. He recovered and turned back to Dacota. "Is there anything else about this gundam that can't be seen from the outside?"

"Well..." The youth thought for a moment. "That massive blade on the right arm, and the claw on the left, both do what Dr. J calls an "Ion Charge" ...at least I think thats what he calls it in his notes. The outside charges with energy to make them kind of like energy swords...only with a solid center. You've have to see it in action to understand. Oh, and there's the D.S.C.S."

"D.S.C.S.?" Howard raised one eyebrow.

"The Demon Shadow Cloaking System." The boy looked back to his war machine. "The D.S.C.S is probably the most complex thing about the Devils Cause. Even I don't understand how it works.... all I know, is that it was designed by Dr. J. The D.S.C.S. is capable of cloaking the Devils Cause...making it nearly invisible at times. It enables the gundam to blend in against any background to hide...or ambush an enemy, and at night it would be impossible to pick the Devils Cause out against the blackness with the D.S.C.S. engaged."

"Well, no one ever said Doc J was stupid..." Howard laughed and slapped Dacota on his back. "By the way...we had orders to move the completed Gundam onto the Peacemillion (sp?). It will become the 'homebase' for the Devils Cause, and you can come back any time for upgrades or repairs."

Dacota nodded, and turned to head to the mess hall. He hadn't eaten in three days, not since Nadia had fed him. "Now that the Devils Cause is mine, all I need now is to find out what I'm supposed to use it for."

"Don't worry. You'll find out soon enough." Howard winked and walked away, back to the main engineering office.

The engines were louder than Dacota had expected. Their roar increased gradually as he eased the throttle up, giving the enormous engines just enough power to lift the Gundams feet a few inches above the floor. He slowly moved the machine across the floor towards the airlock. He entered the airlock, and gave Howard the sign to close it behind him. As the large metal doors behind him closed, the airlock doors in front of him slowly opened to the blackness of space.

"Now take it easy." Howard spoke through the com system,looking a little worried. "It's your first time, and we don't want you killing yourself...those engines can create a lot of G's."

Dacota grinned. The engines quickly ignited into a giant blue after-burner trail as the Devils Cause exploded away from the Peacemillion. 

"...figures..." Howard mumbled. He scrambled to the monitoring equipment, and was annoyed to see that the radar couldn't even get a fix on the Devils Cause. "...it's too fast...figures..." The Devils Cause came to a sudden halt right infront of Howards veiw-screen. "Enjoying the ride?" He sneered sarcastically.

The youth was breathing hard, and seemed a bit pale.

"Are you...ok..?" Howard asked, unsure of exactly what was wrong.

"It challenges me...my abilties to react and respond..." Dacota took a deep breath. "It dares me to outdo it. It calls for me to prove that I'm it's master...."

"Hmmm...I wonder if he can handle it...." Howard said to himself, looking at his read-outs. Dacota's heartbeat seemed slightly faster than normal, but nothing to worry about. "What do you want to do next?"

"Send out the mobile suits." Dacota's wide vacant eyes weren't even looking at Howard as he said it...he seemed to be staring at nothing.

Howard looked pleased. o0(He's ready to test the weapons systems already...amazing..). "Ok kid...but remember, NO DESTROYING THEM. We only have four of them...and they aren't heavily armed, and it wouldn't be good if you killed the pilots either." Howard gave a hand sign to a crew member down in the airlock, and four mobile suits resembling Leo suits moved to the airlock. As it opened, the four suits (armed with standard energy cannons) moved into space. Dacota was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did that kid go....?" Howard looked puzzeled.

Moving at speeds unclockable, the Devils Cause streaked through space. He was a good ways away from Peacemillion, getting a feel for the controls...doing various manuvuers to better his handling of the emmense speed. He could see the Peacemillion out of the corner of his eye, and watched the four mobile suits leave the craft. He flew towards them, closing the distance in seemingly no time, and stopped infront of them.

Pilot1 (no need to make upnames for these guys ^_^;): "Master Dacota...what do you want to practice?"

Breathing heavily, Dacota replied. "Kill me."

Pilot1: "What!? ...thats against our orders...we're here to help you master your Gundam."

"KILL ME!" Dacota screamed, wheeling his gundam to the left (Pilot2) while drawing the energy sword with the right hand of the machine, and in one swift movement, cutting the mobile suit in two right down its center. It exploded into shrapnel, and the other three pilots were stunned. o0(Is this what you want, Devils Cause? You want a challenge? ...I can make you mine...I'll PROVE it...).

The claw and the right arms huge blade ignited into a greenish flame. The Devils Cause was now in full battle mode.

Pilot1: "No....."

Pilot3: "What do we do!?"

Pilot4, panic stricken, began firing upon the Devils Cause. "He's not killing me!" The other two pilots began firing as well.

Dacota smiled. o0(Good...they've decided to fight for their lives...) The Devils Cause began moving swifty, dodging each blast as if it was too easy. With a flash of blue, the engines ignited into full power again and Dacota was gone.

"Where'd he go?" Pilot3 looked around his veiw-screens. His radar showed nothing, and nothing was visible. Suddenly, the Devils Cause became a blip on the radar...directly behind him. He realized it too late, as the Gundams' claw was buried in the back of the suit...ripping deeper inside.

As quickly as Pilot4's suit exploded, the Devils Cause spun right...ripping the right arms blade up the entire length of Pilot3's suit. There was a short delay before that suit exploded as well.

Pilot1 brought his gun up to point at the gundam, fear in his eyes. "Please...don't..." It was too late as Dacota brought the menacing claw of the Devils Cause smashing down into the head and upperbody of the suit, and in a brilliant flash, Pilot1 was gone.

Howard was going crazy. "What is he doing!? ...he's crazy....he's freakin CRAZY!" Howard grabbed two handfulls of his hair and kept cursing at Dacota as he watched the carnage unfold.

Dacota sat in the silence of space. Around him drifted the remaining parts of the four mobile suits that had been there only seconds before. He breathed heavily as his face showed an expression of satisfaction, while still having that vacant look in his eye. o0(I see now that I was wrong to try and prove that I am your master...that is not the case, is it? You knew all along...that we are one...that we were made for each other...didn't you? I can see it now...we are brothers. I am you...and you are me...)

The boy began laughing, almost insanely, filling the silence of space with his madness.

Dacota entered the main repair hall of Peacemillion. It was huge, and around him were the remains of the four suits he destroyed yesterday and many technitions trying to peice them back together. The Devils Cause stood in the far corner. He made his way across the floor, the people around him giving him looks of amazement (or I guess you could call it horror). He reached a slender door at the other end of the enormous room. He gently turned the handle, and stepped through. Closing the door behind him, he turned to his left.

There he was, just as Dacota had predicted. Howard was, of course, engulfed in some kind of plans. Hunched over his designing table, compass and ruler in hand, he worked away at some kind of blueprints...mumbling to himself as he always did.

Dacota coughed.

Howard turned around. A blue pen hung from his lips, and blue ink covered his face.

Dacota blinked twice, and broke into laughter. "You'll never learn not to stick your pens in your mouth, will you?"

"Bah...shuddap." Howard said as he turned back to his drawings.

"Any progress?" Dacota took a seat in Howards chair behind his desk (covered in coffe-stained paper-work).

Howard jumped up, and eagerly held up his drawing. "The DC-V50 Ion."

"The D-C who?" The boy started eating handfulls of hard candy from a bowl on Howards desk.

"DC for Devils Cause, V for Vulcan, 50 as in diamter of the gun, and Ion is short for Ion Particles." Howard grinned.

"Now, repeat that." Dacota raised an eyebrow. "And this time, try to make sense of it?"

"Well...in short, it's a cannon. For the Devils Cause." Howard cracked his knuckles and licked his lips. "My finest ever! I've used the traditional Vulcan Cannon design, and it has a 50 foot barrel (diameter of course)." The man grinned wider than ever, looking almost crazy. "And I've used a new Ion source. It's an Ion cannon. Highly charged paritcles of atoms, condensed and concentrated into a beam capable of incredible damage! Only one problem with it....it'll take me a while to finish it."

"Sooooo...what do I do till it's done?" Dacota scooped another handfull of candy.

"Glad you asked." Howard kept on grinning like a little boy with a new toy. "I've added a gun to the left arm...actually, to the left hand. It's in the claw...appearing as only a small hole in the palm. It's a standard rapid fire cannon, standard issue to most battle units...but one thing sets it apart. When you use the extender to shoot the claw out to destroy and enemy, the gun goes with it."

"COOL!" Dacota said excitedly, spitting small chunks of candy all over Howards desk.

Howard wrinkled his nose, but didn't say anything. Howard got a concerned look on his face. "Uh....I need to talk to you...about yesterday. What happened out there? Why did you destroy those suits and kill those pilots? If your having problems controlling the Devils Cause, we can make adjustments and perhaps fix the problem..."

"I did what was required. The Devils Cause demanded that I do what was done, and now I see perfectly how he and I interlock...like peices of a puzzle." Dacota got a serious look to his face. "I can handle the Devils Cause perfectly. I am him. He's a kindred spirit... my brother. We understand each other."

Blinking twice, Howard looked dumbfounded. "Oooookay."

"His speed is only for me." Dacota grinned. "He is the body, and I am the soul. Together we are one being, and he and I will find our destiny together."

o0(What is WRONG with him? ...) Howard shook his head, and pointed to a small holo-disk on his desk. "Dr. J was here. He left that for you."

The youth picked up the disk and nodded, leaving the same way he had came.

"Dacota...if Howard has given you this disk, that means that you have completed Devils Cause." Dr. J's voice game from the small holo-image of him, projected onto the screen in front of Dacota. "My boy...I need to tell you something."

The youth sat in a chair a few feet away from the screen. He nodded, as if Dr. J could actually see him.

"Your Gundam is not the only one. There are four more. The Ice Lancer, the Artemis, the Dark Angel and the Deaths Head." The small holo-image of Dr. J paced back and forth across the screen. "They were built by OMLAN. Their power is incredible...and we have no idea what purpose OMLAN has for these weapons of SEVERE destruction."

"What does that have to do with the Colonies?" Dacota asked the question more to himself than anything.

"I bet your wondering what that has to do with the Colonies." Dr. J continued pacing. "Well, OMLAN has already been expanding into space...first building the Lunar Base, and then constructing the mobile suit production factories in Colonies 224 and 617. We do not know exactly what OMLAN plans to do with these other Gundams, but we predict that their goal is to gain complete control of Earth, and if that happens, then the Colonies will surely be the next to be taken by the greedy, power hungry organization. The Devils Cause was designed by me for the Colonies, to be piloted by the best of the best....which is you. It was created to destroy the other four Gundams before OMLAN can use them to gain complete rule. Your mission, Gundam XX0TF-02A-666 Devils Cause, is to make sure that these machines are never used against the Colonies. Destroy them. The Ice Lancer is the first one completed, other than the Devils Cause. It is now your target. You will find it in the Gundam Development Facility in Omaha, Nebraska."

Dacota stared into space for a moment. He calmly stood, and turned to leave the room. He turned back to the screen suddenly, and looked directly at the now stationary image of Dr. J.

"Mission accepted."

***

Greensboro, North Carolina

Aramith looked up from his reading. :Slammed door……loud laughter……mom must be home. : He sighed and looked to the fluffy white cat curled upon his chest. "Whatcha say, puss? Think she''ll go to bed right away?" He reached out to scratch beneath the cat's chin, and smiled as his fingers were batted at. 

A few slammed doors later, Aramith heard the distinctive sounds of his mother's radio. "Well, seems she's gone to bed, luck must be with me tonight, eh, puss?" The cat regarded him quietly before he gently lifted it from his chest. "You sure shed a lot, puss. Good thing I'm wearin' the white tank today, ne?" He hopped up onto his bed and quickly tied his boots. Opening his worn, patch covered book bag, he allowed the cat to step inside. He never knew why the cat followed him so much, but to be honest, he was glad for the company. After sliding his arms through the straps, he opened his window and jumped out, landing on the damp turf with a soft thud. 

Aramith started off on a collected jog, heading through the sparse "woods" just behind his house. "Dunno why they call these woods." He pushed some branches out of the way and continued. "All this place is really is a dumping ground for unwanted shit and a drinking and fucking place." He chuckled softly. "Perfect little place for a slasher film, ne?" He abruptly reached a high chainlink fence and pulled out his wire cutters from the front pocket of his book bag. 

"Nyoooow." 

"It's ok, puss. I'm not creating TOO much damage." He snipped up along one side quickly and pulled the chainlink to the side, allowing himself enough room to crawl through the opening. Once on the other side, he made a note of where he'd come in and once again put on his backpack. "Now let's see…….where to go, where to go……." 

The cat promptly jumped out of the back pack and scampered off towards a large hanger. 

"Shit. Well, guess I'm goin' there…….." Watching for guards, and finding the base pitifully low on them, Aramith sprinted over to the hangar in time to spot the cat slide underneath one of the massive doors. The boy sighed and looked for a door, finding only one, and a locked one at that, a few minutes later. "Didn't expect to be breaking so many laws tonight, but…….." He pulled out a security card lifted from his simulator instructor only 5 hours earlier and swiped it through the sensor. The red light blinked 3 times before turning off, a green one lighting up in it's place. Wearing a soft smirk, Aramith entered the hangar, making sure to close the door quickly after himself. 

Soft, hazy lights were strung across the floor in a grid pattern, and inside each was a mobile suit. Aramith strolled among them, craning his neck to see their massive heads. 

"Nyow." 

"THERE you are." Aramith wagged a finger at the white cat, now purring and rubbing against his legs. "You naughty kitty." He set the bag down, holding it open so the cat could jump back in, but the fluff ball merely sniffed it and skittered off farther into the hangar. 

"What? First you love me, then you run off, then ya love me……." Aramith looked at his watch and winced. 3am. :I gotta get back soon, with or without the cat.: Deciding to make one more try, he trotted towards the back of the hangar, ducking underneath a red "Authorized Personnel Only" sign. 

"Fuckin A……." His blue eyes widened and his jaw went slack. "What the hell is THIS?!" Incessant mewling finally drew his attention to a workstation where he spotted a skematic printout and an instruction manual. 

"Artemis……." His eyes raised once again, now full of reverance towards the massive new suit. Shaking his head, he snatched the manual, plopped onto the floor and thumbed through it. 

"Nyow." The cat wriggled its way onto the boy's lap and looked at him expectantly. 

The boy gave a small lopsided smile and absently stroked the cat's head. "Goooood kitty. Now let me read this and get outta here before someone finds me and hangs me up by my sack, ok?" Obediently, the cat flopped down and closed it's yellow eyes, wrapping it's tail around it's body, gently purring as it drifted off to sleep.

***

Near Cape Hatteras, Virginia

Dorje lay half in half out of the waves, letting the gentle hands of the ocean wash over his skin. The sun struck his chest, turning the soft expanse of skin a faint pink that would grow deeper in time. 

Beep beep! 

The brunette sighed and sat up, sand cascading from his back. "Can't I ever get a little sleep on the beach?" He lazily turned half onto his side and reached into the woven bag he usually carried with him. Pulling out a cell phone he laid it between his ear and his shoulder. "Dorje Stavros speaking, how may I help you?" 

"You're late, Master Dorje. It's not like you to be late," came the deep, accented voice of his instructor. 

"Can't I just have a few more minutes?" 

"A minute is an hour is a day is a week is-" 

"I know, I know." Dorje sighed. "I'm sorry. I'll be there right away." Beep! With a swift movement of his fingers, he pressed the off button and stowed the cell phone in the bag. Climbing to his feet, the boy brushed sand off his knees and stared out across the sea. His sad eyes reflected the waves. Slowly, Dorje put on his "mask" of happiness, smiling winningly. He cloaked his heart in happiness and hid the darkness deep inside him. 

Pressing a small button on a device in his bag, he turned towards the dunes behind him. Suddenly, a door opened in the hill, allowing sunlight and sand to penetrate what had previously been a hidden entrance. Quickly, Dorje dashed in and pressed a blinking yellow button on the left. The doors closed again, mechanically pouring sand over itself to hide from watchful eyes. 

Dorje panted a bit and wiped his brow. The air was cool, dry, and faintly musty. Like books. In fact, there were books, he knew. Not too far down the tunnel there was a library which was one of his favorite spots away from home. Suddenly, in the duskiness, a metal circle was pressed to his neck. Click! 

"State your name and business." 

"Dorje Stavros. I'm here for my Gundam." 

"Oh! Master Dorje! My apologies." The circular nub of the gun was withdrawn from his neck. A round face with curly hair appeared over his shoulder. Through the dim lighting, he could see a wide white grin on the man's face. "Did I scare you?" 

"Of course!" laughed Dorje. "I wasn't expecting you this time." 

"This time?" the guard took the lead as the two of them followed the tunnel towards an elevator door with flashing lights over it. "You mean you weren't scared the other times?" He pressed a button to the side of the door and waited for it to open. Once it did, he gestured the brunette inside before himself. "That makes you a liar, you know." 

Dorje flushed slightly. "I didn't lie. . . I just never assented." 

The doors closed and the elevator began to descend into the ground. "You never denied it, either." He smiled down at the boy. "My evidence would hold up in court. . . but. . . if you like" 

The guard's laughter boomed off the walls. "Hold up in court??" 

"My mom watches Judge Judy." 

The burly guard ruffled Dorje's hair slightly. If Dorje was annoyed by the belittling gesture, he didn't show it. "You're a good lad, Master Dorje." 

"And you're a good friend, Misha." 

With a slight lurch, the elevator came to a halt. Then, slowly at first, it began to move sideways- out to sea. Soon it was going so fast that neither occupant could feel the movement. They settled down to enjoy the 5 minute ride. 

The doors opened onto a world that's only parallel must have been the famous Atlantis. In fact, it was commonly called Atlantis 02 by its inhabitants. Those who did not live here usually never saw it. Or never lived after seeing it. 

Streets wound between buildings and people wound around the streets. Most of the buildings were simple block shapes, but at the top of a hill in the center of town, there was a Greek temple that rose benevolently above all else. All. . . except a dome of gundanium enforced glass that allowed light to filter down in rippling patterns and illuminate the city. 

Dorje smiled at the serene city and turned left. Some of these people had never seen the blue sky before. They were practically mer people. Most learned how to swim before they could walk and families had pet dolphins instead of dogs. It was surreal and so utterly like science fiction that one had to blink several times to assure oneself that it was actually there. 

Misha gestured towards a large warehouse type building that housed the defense force's mobile suits. Mostly, they were used to warn divers or other unauthorized mobile suit forces to keep their distance. Sometimes, however, they had to be used to kill. Dorje stepped inside. 

"Master Dorje." It was his instructor, Dr. Papaiuano. The man was tall and slender. His curly dark hair was thinning at the crest of his forehead and his temples. "DarkAngel is ready." He started off down a hallway. 

"Did you know that there is an anime show called Dark Angel?" the boy trotted along at his side, looking, for all his usual grace, like a child of no more than ten. "I've never seen it, but. . . did you know that?" 

"No, I did not. Did you know that seven more plates were unearthed at that dig in Athens?" Dr. Papaiuano raised one eyebrow. "Or do you no longer keep up with the news from your roots?" 

"Of course I knew about it! Isn't it wonderful?" Dorje sighed happily. "The past is being discovered and the future is being made." 

The doctor's face grew grim. "Yes, and you are going to be the one making it." 

"Me?" 

"You and DarkAngel are the tools for the new world. Your business of shaping the clay of humanity is about to begin soon." 

"I don't understand. What do you mean?" 

"I mean that there is . . . . . . . . dark area. . . . . a. . . . . . what do you call. . . . ." 

"A blight?" 

"Yes. A blight on the pottery of the world. You are being called to fix it." 

Dorje squeaked slightly. "What do you mean?" 

"I mean today is the day that you step into your Gundam and practice." 

"To. . . . to. . . . today?" 

"Yes. Today. Now."

The boy and the doctor came out of the long hallway and into a hanger where chatter reigned supreme. As soon as they entered, however, the other technicians fell silent. They wanted to see what he would say. 

Dorje stared in awe at the creation before him. He had seen it before, but now, he was truly meeting it as a companion. As always, he walked up and put one hand on the Gundam's foot. 

"Hello, DarkAngel," he whispered lovingly. 

"Today. . .today is the day." The entire hanger burst out with wild cheers. A boy about his own age slipped off the back of a sleek 224Neptune and walked over to Dorje. 

"Are you flying him today?" He had red hair that hung beautifully down to his chin and was constantly perfect, despite any roughhousing. His sparkling green eyes smiled at the brunette. " 's gotta be nerve wracking, eh?" "A little," 

Dorje's face was pink. "I'm gonna do it, though. I've been studying, Oren." 

The red head grinned. "I bet ya have. Probably the way you do your homework- while watching anime." 

Dorje chuckled. "Hey, at least I have good grades!" 

Oren pretended to be offended. "And you're saying I don't?" 

Dr. Papaiuano threw a shirt at the boy. "Put one of these on. You should at least be wearing clothes in case someone has to pry you out of there later. Who knows? You might even be. . . oh gasp. . . naked!!"

Dorje's face turned a brilliant scarlet. Dr. P. . . not in front of Oren. . . "I have pants on!" 

The doctor seemed to catch the unspoken thought. "Just put it on." 

Once inside the Gundam, Dorje relaxed. "Helmet!!!" Misha bellowed at him from below. "So you can talk to us!!!" 

Dorje slipped the light helmet on. 

"Can you hear us?" It was the doctor. 

"Yes. I can hear you." 

"Good. Now close the hatch." 

"How? Wait, aren't you supposed to do that?" 

"No. Press that button. . . no.. not the blue one." 

"How did you know I was going for the blue?" 

"I'm psychic," he snorted, rolling his eyes. "The Psychic Friends Network just hired me. I work for Psi-core. I'm half Betazoid. I used to read palms at fairs in a previous life." 

Dorje coughed slightly. "Um.. which button?" 

He couldn't keep the grin out of his voice. "The red one on your right." 

Pressing it, Dorje watched, fascinated, as the door closed softly, smoothly. "Now what? The LCL? The neural interphasers? The plugsuit? How's my synch-rate? Where's my progressor knife?" 

The doctor growled mock-menacingly through his microphone. "This is not Eva. . . Eva. . . whatever you want to call it. This is real life. Now hold on to your little ass, okay?" 

"Wait! Don't I even get to say goodbye to the depressed blue haired girl?" 

"Mika! Press the button!" 

Mika's sturdy finger connected with a yellow button on the control panel and Dorje found himself rocketed into the water. 

"How are you? No leaks?" 

"Glub," answered Dorje, blithely. 

Dr. Papaiuano cursed lightly in Greek. "Now. . . I want to see you go over to the rocks over to your right and touch them. Then return. Use your jets." 

Dorje skillfully did as he was told. He had never known something to respond so wonderfully. It seemed to tremble underneath him when he stopped, like a nervous stallion. Dorje stroked the soft interior. "DarkAngel. . ." 

"Enough talking with your Gundam. I want you to go over to those rocks again. This time, destroy them." 

The brunette bit his lip. 

"Did you hear what I said?" 

Do I have to blow anything up? 

"Hello? Can you hear me?" 

"Acknowledged." 

DarkAngel's large feet made muffled booming thuds on the seafloor. It stood in front of the rocks, staring at them. 

"What should I use?" 

"SheerStryke." 

"SheerStryke. . . The feathers?" 

"Yes." 

DarkAngel unfurled its wings with a swish and a bleep. Dorje bent his Gundam, ready to attack, ready to fire. . . ready to kill. 

Misha and the doctor bent over the viewscreen anxiously, unaware of Oren peering over their shoulders. Suddenly, the pinfeathers seemed to erupt from its wings. Bolts of feather-shaped energy slashed into the boulders, blowing them to the sand from which they had come. But it didn't stop there. The firing continued, pounding relentlessly into the sea floor. Barrage after barrage of energy was directed at the sand. Muddy water swirled around the viewscreen, blocking off any sight. . . now. . .just the sound. The sound. . . the sound. . . 

"Dorje! Dorje! Stop it, now!!" 

Instantly, the firing ceased. They could hear Dorje panting softly. Then. . . slowly, he came back under control. 

He swallowed audibly. "I'm sorry, Dr. P. I just. . .. " 

"I know. You liked it, didn't you." 

A little, breathy "Yeah" came from the other side of the line. 

"Come back, Dorje." 

Another miniscule "Yeah" sounded and the thump thump thump of DarkAngel's return sounded again in the ocean. 

Oren cleared his throat and laughed weakly. "How did you like the feather effects? I came up with that myself." 

Dorje practically fell out of the Gundam. It had been a struggle all the way. Not against DarkAngel, but against the feelings that arose inside of him. He liked it. He LIKED it. Wrapping his arms around himself, Dorje huddled at the feet of his Gundam, trying to calm his swiftly beating heart.

***

OMLAN MOON BASE

*tap tap tap*

The clicking of the fine steel toed boots on the marble floor of the dimly lit office sent a small chill up the spine of the lieutenant as he waited for Commander Lolakan to acknowledge his presence. Eventually his nerves got the best of him and he gave a little cough to get the commanders attention

"Yes Lieutenant"? 

"I uh, Well Sir Ive been ordered to deliver a couple of pieces of um…. Bad news for you Si"….

"Stop stuttering you idiot, it shows bad form, annunciate and get on with your message or get out of my sight"

Now visually a bit shaken, the young man shifted his weight from one leg to the other before he began to speak again

"Very sorry Sir, but reports from our engineers on earth have reported a set of plans for OperationApocalypse missing sir…. Numbers 03…And 02"

The sound of tapping boots became began to accelerate and the commanders face, half hidden under a shadow, turned beet red for just an instant before a heavy sigh was heard and the figure rose from his chair. Striding casually over to the Lieutenant, grabbed him by the collar and lifted him clear off of the floor, and with a mighty heave, sent him back out into the hallway

*sigh* "This is not an acceptable outcome this late in the first stage of operations I TOLD the elders to increase security, but once again for their own selfish purposes they ignored me….soon however that will all change"…….

Walking down the hallway another young Lieutenant passedthe man coming from Commander Lolakans office, His face almost a pale white. 

Approaching and entering the Door,H saw the Commander pacing the room silently

"You know you didn't have to scare him like that Kimo, he IS only human you know"

Looking up with distressed eyes, Kimo looked at the new arrival to his office

"Ah Koa, my friend, and yes Im sorry, but we have news that could hinder our take over, the planSfor your Gundanium Mobile Suit were stolen last night"

"WHAT?! HOW?!"

"That's what I intend to find out as soon as I return to Earth, I would appreciate it if you and Ane came back with me, then we can oversee the final construction of the last few suits and set the second phase into motion"

*smiling* Id be honored Sir, when do we leave?

"Soon my friend, By the way, is there any actual good news to report today to balance out the bad"?

Koa's grin grew wider as he stuck his head out the door...looked both waysto ensure the coast was clear, and slid the door shut, locking it behind him

"Well Kimo, the Ice Lancer is fully operational and is undergoing field tests now, fully 3 weeks ahead of shedual, and Vendetta is close behind, and the others not far behind that.......

Leaning close Koa began to whisper at an almost inaudable tone

"...And I was talking to Ane..and she reports that she may have actually found where the organisations Elders Meet so we can finally put faces to the orders"

"HA! Excellent work, soon the universe will be ours"

***

Outskirts of Omaha, Nebraska

Switch after glowing button, after lever, Lucian manually switched the Communications and detection levels to full. On the exterior, The radar slats unfurled to their full level, tightly straining the mesh of Gundanium coated input/output sensor laden mesh, the "cloak" glowing benieth its vilot blue exterior a radient light red. 

"Hey doc, it's on. . . ." Lucian said, taking a long look at what seemed to be a complicated control system. 

"There was an easier way to do that, boy." Doc unfurled the blueprints upon the hangar contol panel and began to map the engine/thruster system. "Now that that's operational, Why don't you try to find the farthest detectable flight?"

"Heh. Gotcha ." Lucian chuckled. He depressed a single button, the overhead map blinked on, illustrating a 3D model of the scan area and all inbound/outboun flights from that point." Well, I'm seeing a couple mobile suits around Colony 3. . .and about 12 cargo shuttles heading in fleet formation for the Lunar base." A sudden beeping of the targeting system identified an unknown launch. "Doc, I just picked up an unregestered launch from the rebuilt Peacemillion

"Peacemillion? Unregestered flight? How do you know that it's unregestered?" 

Lucian thought for a second, adjusting the helmet to lay better. "I dunno, I just thought since it was beeping, kinda calling my attention to it, that it was unregestered. . .or something like that. "

"Beeping? What sort of beeping?"

"I dunno, three short but shrill blasts in my eardrums constitute a 'beep' to me"

"Are you sure that there were three?"

"What's with all the Questions doc? It was probably nothing. See? It's off my screen, so don't even worry." Lucian then turned his attention to the lance. "What is this thing? Some sort of Light sabre on a stick?"

"Not even that. If it wasn't classified, I'd give you the first hand introduction upon how to fight in that so called 'monstrocity' ."

"Oh well. . .today wasn't meant for me to become a jedi anyways. " After a quick delve into his pocket, Lucian came up with a pack of cards. "Hey doc? Ever play poker?"

"No, pay attent. . ."

"Well. . .It's just like life, if you pull just the right cards, ya win, otherwise you're left with a big hole in your pockets, or even without clothes. And that depends upon which rendition of the game you play. Tell me doc, what version do you prefer? Strip or standard?"

Doc silently fumed, waiting for Lucians inevitable comment. 

"I'd hope standard. I'd never wanna play strip poker with you, scrawny little buttmonkey."

" Now listen here, Boy."

"OH! Look who's talking up to the big nasty pilot in the Mobile suit! Do you know how easy it'll be for me to squash you? From up here, you look like an ant."

Suddenly one of the OMLAN radar technicians shouted out a warning. "Everyone on alert! There's a report of a singular incoming unidentified Mobile suit headed this way. The soonest the nearest patrol can be here is within 7 minutes. The estimated time the Mobile suit will reach us is within the next two minutes."

Doc regarded the Technician. "Is there enough time to raise the hangar?"

"No" The technician replied, going back to his work.

"Get outta there, boy!!" Doc shouted. "We've got incoming!"

"Incomming what? And how exactly do you expect me to get outta this thing? Jump?"

"Yes! Out now!"

"I'm not crazy, you old coot! I'm not going to kill myself just because of your unethical fear. I bet its nothing but a large flock of birds!"

"I'm not going to repeat myself again, Lucian! Get the hell out of that suit!"

"Why don't you just shut the hell up?" Lucian screamed back. "How the hell do you use the engines?" He fiddled with a couple of buttons until a faint hum reached his hears. "There we go. I'm getting a handle on this thing. " With a firm grip, he held the controls and gently pushed forward. The Icelancer lifted off of the ground at a slight angle, floating just above the ground. "Whoa! This thing handles like a dream, Doc! Too bad all you guys down there are freaking over nothing. I mean, if there was something there, I would see it by now."

Suddenly, the Icelancers communications system blazed with a warning, a direct firing lock had been established. The overhead switched automatically into battle mode, the suit skyrocketing on autopilot, attempting to avoid a line of fire.

"THIS IS NOT HAPPENING!!!!" Lucian grunted against the extreme g's that the Mobile Suit created due to the close turns and loops it made in attempt to avaid an unseen enemy. The cards that had been previously resting in his lap scattered across the cockpit, the Ace of hearts lodging in his hair un-noticed. From the left side what looked like a clawed Suit hand attached to an extender barely missedthe Icelance, and only at a fraction of an inch. Just as soon as it had appeared, it seemed to fade into the air. "No wonder I couldn't see it! It's got some sort of cloaking device." Though the Icelancer continued to avade an attack on its own, Lucian fumbled around with the controls, trying to disengage the Autopilot. "Comeon, COMEON! This isn't gonna keep me alive!!! I need the control!" With a swift punch to the console, the autopilot suddenly switched off. No sooner had the shield and Autopilot deactivated, then the hull came underfire by projectiles, most likely cannon fodder. "WHO THE HELL IS OUT THERE?!?" Once again, Lucian gripped the controls, wheeling the massive Mobile suit around to face his adversary. From what seemed to be nothing, the shape of a demonly entity appeared. It was a mobile suit, but not exactly, appearing more like a devilish figure then anything manmade. 

Then it happened, even faster then he could see, the clawed hand ripped through the right arm, tearing the vunerable, still exposed power couplets into shreads. 

"Shit. . . ." Lucian mumbled as all the power systems except for environmental control, short range comm, righting thrusters, and external view system shut down, one by one. With a disabled Mobile Suit, there was nothing he could do but sit and wait for the enemy to do something, Already, the enemy Suit was aiming for another shot. But then he thought about it again, short range communications wasn't going to reach Doc. That was a little too far. The only hope he had was the invisable. "Whoever you are," Lucian spoke in gulps, afeared that he wouldn't be able to finish his sentence."Whoever you are. . . .There's one thing I want you to know before you try and kill me. . . I am of NO threat to you! I have NO Idea how this thing works! If you want to destroy this suit, do so, but whats the point? I mean, it is very unwise for a pilot to go into battle unless he is moved by necessity or by the knowledge that he has a great advantage, for a battle is very subjectto fortune; and defeat is too important a matter to ever risk. You must have seen this point before attacking me. If you got my point, respond." lucian fell silent, waiting for a reply. _Comeon! You just got to reply! There is no way I'm gonna die right here, right now, in this thing for gods sake. _he thought, resting his chin on his knuckles. Wedged in between the controls and the overhead viewer, the joker leered back, its cruel smile seemingly taunting the situation.

***

Kyoto, Japan

From the moment he arrived Eji felt slightly perturbed. The others were obviously surprised at his appearance. When he parked his motorcycle and took off his helmet he was surprised to see all the festivities outside. He was led through the house and outback where he passed through the talkative crowds. People seemed to hold in their breath around him and the talking hushed around him. Ignoring the silence Eji walked through until he came to the main group. The laughter he heard from them died down except for two individuals. Eji recognized Garou's laugh in the center and next to him Kazami. Garou perked up as he saw Eji and waved him over. Kazami nodded and moved forward to greet Eji. He held out his arm in a handshake. Eji coldly stared at it before he slowly moved his hand to meet Kazami's. Taking it Kazami gave Eji a hearty handshake and turned back to the others. The partygoers seemed eased by this act and continued on again, as if nothing had happened.

"Glad tosee you came Eji." Kazami said as he put a drink into Eji's hand. His

eyes met Eji's and they betrayed his smiling features. They were cold, full of hatred and malice. Eji remained silent as he took the glass. Seemingly satisfied Kazami turned back to the others. With a small announcement everyone began to head toward the beach behind his house.

Eji quickly spotted the piles of stacked wood on the beach. However before he could ask Kazami let out a commanding cheer. As everyone listened to Kazami go on about his party, Eji let his mind wander. Thinking over to the wood he watched as the servants doused them with some gasoline. Eji's stomach churned. The prospect of fire was menacing enough to cause him to stumble back a little. Garou looked back to his friend and waved him forward just as Kazami shouted out his name.

"And Eji. As a symbol of our new friendship I ask you to light the first bonfire of the night with me." Kazami said as Garou pushed him forward. Kazami held a sly grin on his face as he extended Eji a book of matches.

Eji's mind raced and his heart pounded with anxiety as he pulled the first match from the pack. He smoothly pulled the match out and held it up before his eyes. The partygoers were quite mystified by this act but Kazami just patted his back. Eji looked blankly down at the wood, his eyes betrayed him with horrifying images. Flames licking at his family's house screams. Eji cursed as the match fell out of his hands when he took a small step back. He looked around bringing him back to the present and a murmuring crowd. Kazami grinned evilly.

"Don't worry I wont take this as an affront to our friendship" said Kazami as he pulled out a match and lit it. The match transfixed Eji's eyes. Kazami laughed as he tossed the match into the wood. "Since we aren't really friends anyway. . ." said Kazami as Eji fell back into the sand as the wood flared up into flames almost 10 feet high. Kazami then took a burning ember and walked to Eji. "It's a good thing you didn't light that huh. . ."Kazami said laughing. Quickly enough Kazami grabbed a flaming ember and brandished it in front of Eji. Eji's eyes were glazed in fear and small flashes of horrible memory.

The entire party was stunned at the actions. The partygoers' murmered in shocked and frightened voices as Kazami moved the flame closer to Eji. Eji stared forward and backed up avoiding the flame, which so held his gaze. Garou finally broke the shocked almost quiet as he dashed forward at Kazami. With a vicious backhand from the torch Kazami sent Garou back, and unconscious. The crowd gasped and finally went into full-blown panic, but that moment was all Eji needed. With almost superhuman speed Eji leapt forward and smashed the board into two with his elbow. Just as quickly he spun around and delivered a roundhouse to Kazami sending him flying across the sand.

"You haven't changed at all. . ." Eji said his eyes as hard as flint. He barely finished his words, when he jumped backwards avoiding the two thugs who tried to tackle him from behind. Eji punched one in the jaw and deflected the others hand away from his jacket, probably towards some weapon. The crowd was screaming now as more men came forward, urging the crowd back and off the property.

"Ha ha, Party's over folks. I hope you had a nice

evening. . .HA HA HA HA HA."Shouted Kazami as he pulled a gun from one of

his thug's holsters. Eji saw Garou being carried away by some of the same men; before he was lurched at by two gorillas sized men. The first man caught Eji by surprise and delivered a uppercut which sent Eji falling back. Rolling with the punch as he learned long ago, Eji rolled to a stop and delivered a speedy elbow to the mans groin. As he fell forward Eji leapt up delivering a knee to his face. Bone snapped as Eji jumped back and the man grabbed his nose gushing with blood. Without waiting for the other man to attack Eji, dashed towards the front lawn. Jumping over the balcony, and speeding forward Eji drop kicked a man with his back turned. As he landed he tripped another thug, and then dropped him with an uppercut as he fell. Hearing some gunshots and screaming, Eji jumped on his motorcycle. Turning on the bike Eji, sped off with bullets grazing around him. Flesh tore as he had a bullet graze his arm. Turning out of the driveway, Eji sped off the estate and into Kazami's plans into motion.

Eji found his home in a wreck. Through the front gate he could already

see the shattered windows, and glass littering the yard. As Eji dismounted he thought against going through the gate. Instead Eji jumped the perimeter fence and headed around the yard. Searching the grounds Eji found the same M.O everywhere. Shattered glass, broken everything, and a seeming search for something. After being sure that no one was left on the grounds, he headed inside.

Looking around Eji shook his head. More of the same. The floor was littered with broken glass, and vases, picture frames and splintered wood from broken doors. It was a good thing the servants were given the night off. Eji was about to call the police when he noticed a small blood trail. Following it closely, Eji found himself in the remains of the living room. On the wall in large flaming letters was the words "Deju Vu". Eji's mind tried to encompass the massive collection of events that had happened tonight, when he heard a voice behind him.

"You. . .you're unharmed Eji?" said his father as he looked at his son. Eji blankly nodded into his father's bruised face. Coughing up a combination of phlegm and blood, his father leaned on Eji for support. "Eji I'm glad you're unharmed. They came back for us, back from the past, tryingto steal the future. . ." said Eji's father.

"What do you mean?" Eji said as he led his father to a seat. His dad sat down and reached into his pocket. Slowly he pulled out a little locket. "Father. . . .what, WHO did this?" said Eji as he looked around the room.

"The Nanaktu clan. They are the ones responsible for this, they came for revenge, and this. . ." Said Eji's father holding up the metal to the light. Eji stared at it and his father in shock and confusion.

"What the hell is going on father." Said Eji his mind recoiling from the information. Eji sat down next to his father and set his face in his hands. "How the hell is Kazami connected to this? Who is the Nanaktu clan, what the hell were they looking for?" he said after a moment.

His father sighed a deep sigh of pain. He placed the locket in Eji's hands and began the story of how he and his mother first met, busting up a drug ring. He explained how the Nanaktu clan was the biggest investor and thus the worst hit crime lords from the drug bust. He explained how later they had come back for revenge, how he was weak and away while they. . ..

"What..?!"said Eji on the verge of breaking up. "What are you saying. . .is . . .is" started Eji.

"Yes, they are the same ones who destroyed our life so many years ago. They are the same ones who took your mothers life." Said Eji's father sadly.

Eji's long held dam of emotion burst. With a scream to shake the heavens he punched the wall of burning letters. Crashing through the whitewall, he spun around and threw a chair into the already broken glass hutch. He spun around his eyes those of a crazy man, before they heard motors outside. His father turned to the shattered window as five cars pulled up, all of them flashing the lights on the house.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" shouted Eji as he lurched to the lights. His father reached out and grabbed him as a hail of gunfire tore the couch to shreds. Diving to the ground, all thoughts of revenge gone for the instant, Eji and his father looked at each other. Shouting above the gunfire his father told Eji to run behind the bar. An instant later they both whirled and dove through the hail of bullets, to get behind the bar. His father pointed to a single bottle of port, unshattered despite a lodged bullet in its body. Pulling it forward a hatch slid open and Eji followed his father inside. The hatch closed a second later and they were drowned in blessed silence.

They walked for a few moments of silence, before reaching a metallic

door. Motioning for Eji to hold out the locket he took it from his hand and placed it before the door. A little beep was heard before a green light came on and the door opened. They stepped inside and into an unimaginable destiny. Lining the massive walls stood four mobile suits.

"Leo's. . ." Eji mumbled as he recalled his mobile suit lessons.

"Variations on the basic Leo, but yes, Leo's." replied his father with a nod of his hand. It obviously pained him to talk yet he did so anyway. "And now you know what they were looking for." he added, stopping at the far end.

Eji looked around. He knew his father too be a government agent, but

he thought him nothing more than a ambassador. Now he seemed more like..like "James Bond." Eji thought out loud, looking around. His father stifled a small laugh with a cough.

" I would hardly say that, but it is more than you thought of your old man huh?" his father opened a previously hidden door. As he did so he leaned forward the pain obviously overcoming him. Eji stepped forward but his father held up his hand. "I can do for now. Follow me. . ." he said as he walked through the door. Eji followed slowly as his father hit a red button. The outer doors closed down and together they walked through the corridor under the emergency lights.

Meanwhile, Kazami Nantaku, the son of the head of the Nantaku clan, ordered his men to stop firing. Two minutes later his men found the secret entrance and were working on the door. Gloating in his apparent victory Kazami had ordered the rest of the mansion and surrounding buildings burned. _We will smoke them out like rats. And then the vengeance of the clan shall be complete_. Kazami thought to himself as the buildings were set ablaze. A tap on the shoulder brought him away from his thoughts, and he turned to face one of his men.

"Your father wants a update Sir. What should I tell him?" asked the subordinate.

"Tell him it is all going fine, by tonight the mobile suits will be in our capable hands, and the Nanataku clan will be glorious once again."Kazami turned back to the burning buildings.

The subordinate nodded and went off to report. As soon as he left two men came back telling him the door to the lab was open. With a smile Kazami ordered his men to follow him into the lab.

Eji and his father were rocked by a slight jolt from behind them. Cursing his father hit a small button on one of the walls. A display of the lab popped up and showed the mobile room. Kazami's men were already inside and a minute later Kazami himself walked in. His father hit the screen and curses his lack of foresight. "I knew I should have armed those self det charges." He said as the men tore apart the lab.

"What are they searching for?" Eji.asked.

"Anything else they could use to further there ill gotten goals. Probably looking for some of my personal upgrades for the mobile suits." His father said as they turned the bend.

Eji went to speak again, but was cut off by the sight before him. There stood the biggest, most awesome mobile suit he had ever seen. His experience with Custom Leos were nothing compared to this beast. He was frightened by the appearance of armor plates and the wing like appendages.

"Here we are. . .this is what I was working at." His father said as he turned on the lights. A massive overhanging of lights suddenly lighted up the room. The Mobile suit shone, yet still under the light looked dark and menacing. Looking over the blood red

colors and black on the suit you couldn\rquote t help but get a chill up your spine.

"It's. . ." started Eji.

"My lifes work. . .and now your legacy." Eji's father said as he stepped over to a control counsel and flicked on some switches.

"But. . .I. . .I've only used custom Leo corsairs. . .they didn't even have weapon systems for god sake!" Eji shouted as he looked back to his father.

His father was overcome with another fit of coughing and blood, and this time Eji did help support him. His father looked back to his son with pain and grief in his eyes.

"I don't care what you've done. It was practically made for you boy. I knew someday you would have it. Now you're going to get in it or were both dead." His Father returned to the counsel. Eji looked down at the blood of his father covering his hand. He nodded and quickly ran up to the lift.

Outside the burning estate Kazami and the others reveled in the suits. The Leos were fitted with a new Vulcan gun, lightweight and carrying more ammo. The men were happy to test them out. As Kazami looked on they rained fire into the burning house, whereupon it crashed into cinders. Kazami did not join in the fun, since he was still bothered by the disappearance of Eji and his father. He had the men search the whole underground labs they found, and although much mobile technology was taken the two evaded

capture somehow. Suddenly a loud explosion was heard behind the men. Kazami didn't turn right away since he expected the men's laughter to follow. However the horrible scream of one of the dying men caused him to spin around. Turning he saw a demonesque Mobile suit standing over the fiery remains of one of his men. The Mobile suit had one had outstretched with five glowing talons coming from it's fingers. In a flash they disappeared and the gun was brought forth onto the second mobile suit. The men fired wildly and the larger mobile suit lifted its arm in a defensive motion. The third pilot flanked the larger mobile suit, when it turned and fired upon the second. The second one exploded in a hail of gunfire from the Mobile suit and the third one moved in for the kill. Meanwhile Kazami stood shocked by the sudden appearance of this larger far more hostile mobile suit. He motioned for a retreat and blazed off. The third suit turned to leave and the larger one attempted its claws again. However this time its steps were awkward, and it clumsily tripped on some debris. Falling to the ground with a thud, the rest of Kazami's men took off following the last two Leos. As Kazami sped to the safety of his home he heard an anguished cry over his communications a saw a blurred image of Eji in his HUD. Eji stood up in the mobile suit and looked after his adversaries. As the sun rose over his smoldering estate Eji settled back down into the mobile suit dock to check on his father.

***

Dacota smiled as he whirled the Devils Cause quickly to the right, lineing the extender claw up with IceLancer. Instantly, the claw shot out and was back again...and IceLancers right arm was destroyed near the shoulder.

(AUTHORS NOTE: from now on, when a character is thinking it will be in Italics.) _Either this pilot has exceptionally slow response time, or he has no clue what he's doing..._ The thought flashed through Dacota's mind breifly. He saw the light in the eyes of IceLancer go dim, and then quickly cut out. _The main power core? I disabled the main power core? Who would route the main power core through the right arm!? _Dacota smirked at the thought and raised the blade of his energy sword high above the Devils Cause's head, preparing to deal the finishing blow.

Suddenly, the communications panel to his left exploded into sparks and fire. "SHIT!" Dacota yelled in surprise, momentarily dropping the Gundam controls to grab a nearbye fire extinquisher and put out the small fire that was growing from the communication panel. Through the commotion, Dacota heard something very garbled coming through....he made out only a few words before his comm. system totally quit..."I am of NO threat to you...."

_CHRIST! ...the power that suits' communication system puts out is incredible....it blew my comm. system to peieces_.... Dacota scrambled to regain controll of his Gundam, which had stalled when he had dropped the crontrolls. He readied the final blow once more, and prepared to deal IceLance it's death....but then the words of the pilot flashed through his mind. _'I am no threat to you' ...obviously not.... _Dacota let the sword drop to the gundams side. The beam of the sword retracted, and he placed it back in it's conceled spot on the left shoulder. _My mission is to "make sure the gundams are never used against the colonies" ...if I take this one prisoner...wouldn't that be as good as destroying it?_

His thought process was interupted by a blip on his radar. Eight large mobile suit carriers, no doubt loaded with manned Virgo suits, appeared far to the right. _Reinforcements....I can either destroy them all, and risk losing IceLancer....or retreat now_.... Dacota's decision was quick, and he immediately grabbed ahold of IceLancer with the clawed appendage.

Lucian sat in his dark cockpit. The lights had gone out, and nothing seemed to be working now except the environmental control. _Well...at least I have oxygen_. 

After a few short moments of wondering what his fate would be, the pilot of the mysterious mobile suit began speaking over an external P.A. system.

"You fried my comm. system so I hope my P.A. system reaches you through your suit. I'm spareing your life, but IceLancer is mine now...and you're coming with it." The pilot's voice echoed off the hull of the Gundam, just barely reaching Lucians ear.

"WHAT!?" Lucian fumed. "Just let me ou--"

Before Lucian could finish his sentence, the EXTREME g-force of the Devils Cause's Vernier engines hit him full force as Devils Cause exploded away from Nebraska, bearing directly for Peacemillion.

"Someones...gonna die ....for this ..." Lucian began cursing and screaming as loud as he could...but no one could hear him, and they were already going through earths atomosphere....into space.

Dacota shook his head. _I hope Howard see's me coming and opens up the airlock...otherwise, I'll have to knock...that'll seem REAL professional_. The airlock opened just as the Devils Cause neared Peacemillion. _Good...now if only he could send out work suits to help dock the IceLancer_. Dacota's eyes grew wide as four work suits emerged from Peacemillion, and went directly to IceLancer...hooking onto it and beginning to pull it to the Peacemillion. _When did he learn to read minds!?_

The boy quickly piloted the Devils Cause ahead of the work suits, and through the hangar doors. He turned off the huge engines, and moved the Gundam into it's dock. Opening the cockpit door, he took off his helmet and quickly jumped off the suit...flipping gently through the gravity-less room untill reaching the floor. It didn't take long for Howard to catch up to him.

"Lemme guess...it followed you home, right?" Howard smirked. "You know that if you keep it, you'll have to feed it and water it and give it baths...and if it poops on my carpet, you are DEAD."

Dacota laughed. "Yeah yeah...I know I wasn't supposed to bring it back. But I figured it would be a lot more usefull if we took it prisoner....maybe we can use it against them?"

Howard thought for a moment and then nodded his approval. "But who can pilot it? I know that none of the second rate hacks I have onboard can handle that machine...except you, and you have Devils Cause."

The youth shrugged, and started unzipping his space suit. "I figure we have lots of time to figure that one out." Dacota said as he stepped out of his space suit.

"What about the pilot?" Howard said, looking back at the IceLancer. "Where is he at?"

Dacota pointed as three of the work crew pulled Lucian out of the IceLancer, kicking and screaming to beat hell. "He's not happy, to say the least." He thought back to the battle with IceLancer. "I don't think he's a trained pilot...his reaction time was far too slow and he didn't seem to know how to use the weapon or defense systems."

Howard rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Interesting...that OMLAN would put a novice behind the controls of a Gundam..."

About that time, the three men carrying Lucian approached Dacota and Howard. Lucian tore free, and ran up to Dacota.

"Where you the crazy bastard in that thing!?" Lucian said wildly, pointing at Devils Cause.

Dacota nodded.

"You almost killed me!" Lucian started ranting, throwing his hands in the air. "Look what you did to the IceLancer...that windbag Doc Windstrom will NEVER shut up about this one! And you owe me a deck of cards too!!!" Lucian said, pulling the ace of spades from his hair (it had been there for a while ^_^) and shook it in Dacota's face.

Howard turned to Dacota. "What do we do about him? Lock him up?"

"Nah...he's no threat. The IceLancer is in no condition to leave here, and Devils Cause would probably kill him....he'd be stupid to try and leave." Dacota looked back to IceLancer.

Lucian crossed his arms and fumed. "So I'm stuck here!? ...great...just great...."

"The Devils Cause doesn't look damaged." Howard remarked, turning back to Dacota. "Anything need repaired?"

"Well...nothing is damaged at all, except for the communication system." Dacota shook his head and pointed at Lucian. "He blew it up. The power his gundam's comm. system puts out is HUGE...I think he had his range set to max, and his power all the way up ....and he tried to send me a message. We were only a few hundred feet away from each other."

Howard slapped his forehead while sighing. "The IceLancer is COVERED from head to toe in transceivers! It's one huge walking radio antennae and power booster! It's made to be able to send and receive messages from all over the world and through space too....even farther than the furthest colony. I'm not surprised the comm. system exploded!"

"Well, I'd appreciate it if you'd fix it. And maybe beef it up a little, eh?" Dacota shook his head. "I don't want it exploding every time someone tries to talk to me."

"Yeah..sure." Howard pointed to IceLancer again. "Should we fix it too?"

At about that time, what was left of the demolished right arm of IceLancer fell from it's holdings...crashing to the ground and nearly smashing a few men. As if on cue, two large peices of amor (one from the chest area and another from the left leg) came loose from the hull and also smashed to the ground.

"Uhmmm....yeah. Fix it." Dacota nodded.

"Is it supposed to do that?" Howard looked confused, and turned to Lucian. "It's not supposed to do that, right? The amor was untouched...why'd it come loose?"

Lucian shrugged. "It shouldn't have happened...I put it together myself."

Howard and Dacota looked at each other and nodded.

Lucian face faulted. "WHAAAAAAAT?"

They didn't say a word, as one of the work crew came running up. "That gundam is a mess! Parts are missing, lots of wires are mixed up or not connected, the power core was routed through the right arm of all places and we can't disarm the self destruct mechanism ...somebody used all red wires! Who in GODS name would use all red wires!?!? ...whoever put this thing together was a real nutcase, I'll say that much..." The crew member left quickly after giving his report.

"Uh.." Lucian sweatdroped. "Nevermind."

The dinner had gone quietly. It was nothing special, but both young men concentrated on eating the warm meal of ham and beans with cornbread as if it was the best they'd ever had. Conversation had been slim to none, and it didn't look like anything would change soon.

Nadia appeared. She put her tray on the table and sat down. "Don't look so happy guys...you should calm down, or both of you will probably die of over excitement."

Her sarcasm earned her two cold glares and five more minutes of pure silence.

Tired of the quiet, she tried again. "You said your name was Lucian...right?"

"Hmmpf." Lucian grunted inbetween bites.

"I'll...uh...take that as a yes." Nadia kept quiet the rest of dinner, and afterwards she left...tired of hanging around the anti-social pair.

Night came quickly, but Lucian couldn't sleep. He was left free...able to roam about the Peacemillion as he chose. He had clearance to everything but the bridge and engine rooms, and nobody tried to stop him from doing anything he wanted. And yet...he was a prisoner. He couldn't leave Peacemillion. He was trapped, and the feeling made him somewhat ill. Sleep was impossible. 

Lucian found himself in the repair hangar...looking upon IceLancer. The Gundam had been torn apart, down to the very frame and many piles of parts and wires. He sat down on a large hunk of amor, and smiled ironically. "I don't know what you were built for...but it wasn't worth it." He shook his head and sighed. "What a complete waste of my time....and my life...."

"You're wrong." A familiar voice spoke from behind him. Dacota sat down a good twenty feet away from Lucian. "You know....I've been watching you. You don't act like any trained pilot I've ever met. I'm so confused...I thought that any pilot that belonged to OMLAN would be ruthless, and very willing to die to keep the IceLancer from falling into the 'wrong' hands. I need to know, or it's going to kill me...who are you? And why did they choose you to pilot IceLancer?"

Lucian laughed. "OMLAN has nothing to do with me. They just supplied the parts and payed the Doc. I'm just the test pilot. I apprenticed for Doc Windstrom, that dirty old bastard. He had me build IceLancer for him, and I just happened to be testing it when you attacked. What could I do?" He thought for a second. "And what do mean, I'm wrong?"

"Hmm...that does explain things." Said Dacota, slightly grinning. "And...you're wrong about the IceLancer being a waste of your life."

Dacota looked into space for a second, thinking deeply about the words he was going to say. "How would you like to master IceLancer?"

Lucian looked skeptical. "What do you mean?"

"I can teach you. Howard can help. You have the potential." Dacota still looked deep in thought. "I can see it in you. You and IceLancer were made for each other...like me and Devils Cause."

"But why teach me?" Lucian looked confused. "Aren't I the 'enemy'?"

"You're not from OMLAN. And OMLAN is the enemy." Dacota got a far off look in his eye. "OMLAN is killing innocents. Destorying countries and seizing control of military forces...controlling the Earth as if it was a play thing to be toyed with. They start war after war...and kill all who stand in their way. And why? For 'the sake of peace' they say." Dacota laughed. "Lies! All of it! OMLAN seeths with greed...it seeps through every poor of every member of the organization. Their only goal is total control of Earth...and eventually space. The IceLancer was created to destroy the colonies...along with three other suits. Devils Cause was built to destroy those four suits before they could be used against the colonies. And I guess....what I want to ask is....will you help me? IceLancer needs a pilot...you are it. And if we don't stop OMLAN...who will?"

Lucian was surprised. He'd never expected such a powerfull speech to come from someone as silent and solitary as Dacota. "Why? Why should I get invovled?"

Dacota pulled out a pen and a peice of paper, and wrote something down on it. He folded it up very small. "If you really want to know, this is the only reason I can give you." He handed it to Lucian and walked away, leaving Lucian alone again in the huge repair hangar.

He slowly unfolded the paper, and read Dacota's final argument.

"The only people who die with shame, are those who die without fighting."

Dacota woke early, and went straight to Howards office. He didn't bother looking for Lucian....Lucian would approach him when he made his decision. Howard was waiting, as usual, with a large pile or readouts.

"Whats the news?" Dacota seemed anxious.

"Well...give me about 48 more hours and lots of luck, and the IceLancer will be 100% opperational again." Howard handed Dacota several estimation documents, and readouts on the IceLancers specifications. "Also, the Devils Cause's new cannon should be ready in a few days...and the comm. system is fixed too."

"Great." Dacota smiled breifly, and started to leave. 

"AND..." Howard said smiling. "...I've heard from Doc J..."

"Oh?" Dacota sat down for this one.

"He's not happy. He said 'the instructions were to destroy the gundam! not bring it back!'...but I told him that as of now, it looks like we'll have two Gundams on our side instead of one and he seemed to feel better after that." Howard thought for a second. "Although I don't know who's gonna pilot IceLancer."

Dacota smiled to himself. "Anything else?"

"Ohhh yeah...nearly forgot." Howard scrambled to find a paper on his messy desk. He found what he was looking for, and handed it to Dacota. "Mission breifing."

The boy snatched the paper out of his hand, and scrambled to the Devils Cause. 

"Dacota....I hear you've brought back a souvenier from Nebraska. DON'T DO IT AGAIN!!! The second Gundam has been completed....it is the suit Artemis. It can be found at the GDF in Greensboro, North Carolina. Destroy it."

The message was barely read before Dacota had left the hanger.

"Mission accepted."

***

OMLAN GDF: Greensboro, North Carolina

"So this is for the arm….lessee here…."Aramith moved one of the joysticks towards him and the suit raised it's left arm.After a little playing around Aramith grinned and began moving the arms in a particular pattern."HEEEEEEY MACARENA!"He laughed huskily to himself until the cat meyowed loudly and dug it's claws into his thigh.

"SHIT!The hell was that for, p-" Aramith's eyes bulged as he spotted two armed guards entering his part of the hangar.:oh I'm done for now….oh man….oh this just isn't good…:

The taller of the two guards looked up at the suit, while his companion flopped into a chair."Whatcha make of this thing?"

The tall guard shrugged his shoulders."The hell'm I supposed to make of it?'S'not like they let us know shit about this thing."

"Mmm…"The smaller guard fiddled with the skematic still lying on the table. "Hey…. where's the manual?"

"Huh?"

Aramith looked to his feet and the open manual, mouthing "shit" over and over again.

"It's not there?"

"No, look for yourself, man."The smaller man looked up towards the suit and squinted his eyes.

"Well someone musta taken it home then.Don't worry about it."

"Mmm…kay."The two soldiers grabbed a cup of coffee each from a nearby vending machine and exited the hangar.

"Thank the gods."Aramith wiped the sweat from his brow and exhaled slowly."Well, I think that's m'cue to get the hell outta here, ne, puss?"He smiled and grabbed the instruction manual."Now, lessee how to open that hatch and get that line to come back down…"

After 10 minutes Aramith frowned."Goddamned…..can't find it anywhere!He threw the book down, unintentionally stomping on the foot pedals as he did so.A harness instantly wrapped around his chest and hips and the suit shuddered once before shooting upwards, through the hangar roof and into the air above the base.Sirens instantly began screaming and lights flashing madly while a steady

stream of soldiers flowed out of their barracks.

Aramith blinked, looked to the cat, and then blinked again."...whoops?"

***

Atlantis02

Sirens screeched their warning in the peaceful dome of air. Dorje looked up from where he was huddled on the floor. What … what was happening? He struggled to his feet and watched dazedly as pilots ran amok, jumping in and out of Neptunes and WaterCats. "Misha… Misha… what's going on?" The dark haired pilot leaned heavily on DarkAngel's black foot, heedless of the salt water that dripped off it. 

Misha's lips were pressed tightly together. "Air attack."

"From where to… where? How big?" 

The broad shouldered guard shrugged slightly. "Who else? Where else? It's big enough. Two pilots."

Dorje's heart stopped beating. For a minute, he was spinning upside down in a whirlpool of conflicting emotions. "It…" He looked up at Misha. "My mother."

A thousand words would not be enough to describe the conflict Heleni Stavros and her family had been involved in. However, it will suffice to say that her father was involved in several wars in Greece. Now fragmented into several warring factions, they had been tossing bombs around in the Balkans for several years. Heleni's father was the head of one of these factions, but had sent his family off to America to try and survive. 

Dr. Papaiuano bent his head over a microphone, yelling orders to the Mobile Suit troops. Glancing quickly at Dorje, he motioned the boy to stay back. 

"Doctor P, why … why …"

The doctor whirled around. "Because she is your mother," he snapped, his face red. "She is your mother." 

"I want-"

"NO! Your display a few minutes ago proves that you shouldn't be allow-"

"DOCTOR! THEY'RE CLOSER THAN WE THOUGHT!!" a sweating pilot yelled, connected to Atlantis by a viewscreen. "I DON'T THINK WE'LL MAKE IT!"

"Give it all you've got!!!" 

An explosion sounded through the auditory link and the pilot's wild eyes disappeared through the blinding flash of fire. Instantly, Oren's attractive face filled the screen. "Doctor, they're firing on us!"

"I gathered that! FIRE BACK!" 

Dorje's breath came in pants. 

"Misha, switch to aerial view on camera four."

There were four enemy fighters against three Neptunes and a WaterCat. The two enemy pilots first detected were close to their target- a red car buzzing down the highway by itself. With enough magnification, he knew they would see his mother in the car. He knew. The other two enemy pilots were behind, firing on the Neptunes and the WaterCat. Suddenly, one of the Neptunes burst into flames and careened into one of the forerunning enemy's Mobile Suits. Both of them tumbled to the ground. 

Oren grimaced slightly, then, with a determined but grim smile, he switched off the viewscreen. However, he didn't leave the audio off. "Dorje, I know you can hear me. I know you're there. We've had some great times together. Great times, Do-dear."

"No!! OREN!!!" 

"Dorje, please, don't try to stop me. My Neptune is almost… gone. I can't hold out even if they weren't attacking. Doctor, I'm going to self destruct. Mission… accomplished."

Dorje's mouth was open, but no scream issued forth. 

Suddenly, on aerial view, several things happened at once. One of the enemy pilots fired, exploding something on the ground. Something smaller than a Mobile Suit. Probably the size of a car. Then, one of the Neptunes exploded, taking out two enemy pilots. However, the WaterCat also was caught in the blast and burst into flames. 

It was at this point that Dorje shut his eyes and covered his ears, tears streaming from behind his eyelids. The day was lost.


	2. Default Chapter Title

New Mobile Report 

OMLAN Issue Gundam

_In the year 349 after colony, the militaristic OMLAN foundation has in essence taken over the continents of Earth. As they quest for complete world and space control, Gundam Development facilities process the raw material known as Gundanium into useable metal for the construction of Mobile suits. The purpose of these so-called "Gundams" has been reserved for those specified pilots and the high officials of the foundation themselves. Now these suits lie in the hands of a few individuals who find themselvestorn between a battle they know nothing about. Will they be used for good or evil? Not even the pilots themselves know._

Chapter 2

# Everything Falls Apart

** **

** **

Eji sat down next to the mobile suit. His father called it "Death's Head", and explained that it was a new type of suit that was created from Gundamian alloy. He didn't care what it was he was just upset that it hadn't killed Kazami. He raced back to themoment over and over again; he had easily destroyed two of the suits, however when he came back to his senses he became awkward and blocky. He TRIPPED for Christ sake!! He didn't even make that kind of mistake in basic mobile suit piloting back when he was 11. Now he sat there listening to the bustle of government operatives above them. His father had called from a secret Vid-Phone, and within an hour they had arrived. Watching the

news Eji saw how well they covered up the incident already. He also saw that he and his father were listed as deceased in the explosion brought on by a natural gas build up.

"Quite unfortunate. . ." thought Eji sarcastically as a picture of him scrolled up on the news.

"I'm sure I will be missed tremendously," said Eji out loud as a agent passed by. The agent looked at him quizzically and Eji jumped to his feet. "What didn't you hear?!? I'M DEAD!!" shouted Eji as he grabbed the man by the collar. The man carefully pulled himself away as Eji let him go and slumped back down. He had felt all his emotional reserves drain over the past few hours.Now he felt empty, drained and weak. With a slight uneasiness Eji stood up and walked away towards the laboratory. He stopped about a hundred yards away and looked back up to Death'Head. Technicians and agents of all sorts crawled over it like mindless bugs. Eji stared up at the menacing face and thought he saw the eyes glow a bright green. Eji blinked and they were normal, turning back Eji walked away fearing and relishing secretly the thought

that he wasn' t finished with the "Gundam" yet.

Miles away, the final pieces of consciousness slipped away from Garou. Kazami Nanaktu let his disgust show as he slung the broken boy into the darkened room. Kazami quickly closed the door behind him as

he left, locking it with a deadbolt. As he walked Kazami angrily went over what little information he received outta the boy. He had resisted at first, then the riches and woman were offered to him, and Garou cracked; blurting out about Eji's mobile suit training. Garou's will however, proved stronger than his body, for he shut back up again and

this time only spoke from hours of torture. He was a true friend. That was why Kazami hadn't killed him yet. Good friends stick together, and he hoped Eji would soon arrive for his friend. As he passed his fathers study Kazami stopped and listened quietly at the door. His father was meeting with some "investors" who were looking to break into the mobile suit realm of the Black market. With the new technology taken the other night they were almost guaranteed an edge in the market.Kazami smiled as he walked away fromthe door. He hoped the family endeavors would pull out. This would remake the Nanaktu clan; they would rise once again to become the underworld rulers.And Kazami would be right there to take the reigns from his father. Smiling to himself Kazami walked t

owards the Hangar and to check out his new mobile suit.

Garou woke up slowly in the darkened room. He roved his eyes over the room afraid of more torture but relaxed when he realized he was alone. Slowly he pulled himself upto a sitting position and looked down at his body. Some small wounds adorned his chestfrom the beating and blood dribbled down from his forehead. His muscles ached everywhere and he winced at the burns on his back. He shivered at the memory of the red-hot iron spike slowly laid to his flesh. Garou winced again when he remembered how easilyhe gave in at the sight of woman. He hoped Eji, was fine. He knew he escaped the party scuffle, but he heard some of the guys bragging about the explosions at Eji's estate. He hadn't seen the news of Eji\rquote s apparent death, and he didn't need to. He knew he was still alive. He could feel it. Garou eased himself up to the barred window and looked out over the waning afternoon sun. With a silent prayer he called Eji forward, urging his friend to be careful. Then not content to sleep, Garou paced his room, hoping Eji would find him soon.

***

Eji stared at the man blankly.

"You want me to WHAT?"asked Eji as he looked back towards the hangar. The agent nodded his head and looked at Eji's father.

"You heard right, you are to be the pilot of the Death's Head." Said the agent as he ran his fingers through various forms. Eji turned to confront his father but his dad was already shaking his head in agreement.

"He's right Eji, I basically constructed it for you anyway. Everything is configured to your alpha wave, comm. System, weapons. If we used another pilot we would have to reconfigure the whole Gundam. And we don't have the time." Said his father as he threw a blueprint of the gundam at Eji. Eji blankly stared at it for a few moments before it came back to him. That's why the manual controls responded so poorly when he dropped out of his"mind phase". He was controlling the gundam fine but when he tried to use it like a normal mobile suit it had screwed him up.

"But. . . Why?" said Eji as he looked at the man and his father. They looked solemnly at each other before the agent pulled out the reports he was holding before. He held them up and looked at Eji.

"This is beyond Top secret, already you're in over your head, and this will dig you deeper. You can back out, but. . ." said the agent looking away.

"But you wont, Eji do it for me, do it. . . for Mom." Said Eji's fatheras the agent paused. Eji paused at the mention of his mother. Bitter memories swept over him as he thought back. The room was very quiet as Eji thought it over. The agent laid the folder on the table. The clearance said Alpha 4 on it in red large letters. Eji closed his eyes then slowly opened the dossier and started to read through the files.

"I'll get you up to speed, this is not the only Gundam. We at OMLAN were constructing several others. However one complete one was stolen off base and the blueprints for two others are missing. We have locatedthe outer space holding area of the stolen Gundam. Currently we have five mobile suit cruisers en route. We want you however to go in as back up. The suits should be enough, but if the other Gundam, which stole it, shows up they might not be enough." Said the agent as he flipped through the dossier and showed Eji a page of schematics for another Gundam called the IceLancer.

Eji looked up at his father and sighed.

"When do I leave?" said Eji

"As soon as we get word back from the cruisers that they have arrived. You should arrive just in time to escort the Gundam home." Said the agent.

Eji stood up and faced the wall. He put his hand to his head and squeezed his temples. Behind him his father spoke up.

"You'll be ready to go in about ten minutes."

Eji nodded and waved them both out of the room. . .

***

Near The Moon

A deep angry growl slowly came from Dacota's throat as he quickly reversed his course. "Artemis..." Dacota thought deeply. "Our battle will come..."

The Gundam was nothing more than a bright blue streak, looking almost like a shooting star. At full throttle, it only took a few short minutes to arrive back at Battleship Peacemillion. Howard was instantly on his screen.

"Dacota!!!!" Howard looked like he was going to pullwhat was left of his hair out by the roots. "There are four Omlan mobile suit carriers at Eleven O'Clock, from your position. It's confirmed that they each have around ten Halo class suits...Lu is on his way out in the Ice Lancer, but you have to watch out for him ...he just had a crash course in weapons and defense systems, but he's still sketchy on the details."

"Halo's?" Dacota thought a moment. "Are you sure? No Virgo's?"

"Not that we have confirmed...but I'm sure they are all Halo's." Howard said sternly.

"Good...Halo's are cake...Mobile Dolls would complicate things...." Dacota piloted his Gundam over to the hangar doors where Lu in the Ice Lancer was just immerging into space.

The four Mobile Suit carriers halted some distance away from the Peacemillion. The bay doors opened on the bottoms of the carriers, and Halo troops began dropping into space.

"Lu...do your best to defend yourself and Peacemillion...I'll be back in exactly two minutes to check on you." Dacota said before blasting away from the Ice Lancer.

"You got it." Lu said confidently, although he wasn't as confident as he soudned.

The Devils Cause's energy sword ignited into a bright green glow. Dacota eased his throttle up to three quarters, and cruised towards the Halo's.

"Do you have a confirmation on the enemy?" The voice of a low command general came from over the comm. system.

"Yes sir." The leader of the first squadron of Halo's replied. "We have Peacemillion in our sites.....Ice Lancer appears to be stationary near the battleship, and the unidentified Gundam is approaching us."

"Terminate him. And Peacemillion." The Generals voice didn't waver. "And do not harm the Ice Lancer."

"Affirmative."

Dacota kept his throttle at cruising speed...no need to rush things. Suddenly, the Halo troops broke stationary position to assume battle formation.

_Good...they're ready for me._ Dacota grinned. "Lu.."

Lucian popped up on Dacota's comm. screen. "Yeah?" The Ice Lancer waited patiently by Battleship Peacemillion for the battle to begin.

"Can you get a reading on their com-net, and relay the info to my veiw-screen?" Dacota was quickly approaching the closest of the Halo's.

"Easy as pie..." Lu flipped a blue switch and pressed a square red button. A green-grid screenwith outlines of the Halo troops and OMLAN Carriers came up on his screen. Within a few seconds, a yellow net of lines began forming between the carriers and troops. The yellow lines showed transmission'sbeing sent and received between the enemies. He pressed a second red button to begin transmission to the Devils Cause.

_Looks like transmissions originate from the Omlan carrier on the right, and then to four squadron leaders...who relay the orders to their individual groups._ Dacota grinned again. The Devils Cause streaked to the left as Dacota shoved his throttle to near-full.

The Halo Mobile Suit was indeed one of Omlans greatest acheivements in the feild of warfare. The suit, cosmetically, looked as if a Space Leo suit and a standard Aires suit had been crossed. The emerald green color of the Halo suit was brilliantly bright...a sign of Omlans everlastingvanity. The Halo was equiped with standard Aires engines to give the large mobile suit an edge inspeed and agility, and it was armed with two shoulder-held missle batteries and a twin-barrel buster rifle very similar to what the legendary Gundam Wing once carried. The Halo's advantages didn't stop in artilery though...it's armor was thick (although surprisingly light) and tough to peirce or melt. But still, the Omlan pilots had no idea what they were facing...

"Howard, arm Peacemillion's cannon-turrets and open fire on carrier number one...they have been giving all orders so far....taking out the other three carriers wouldn't be a bad idea either..." Dacota was almost on top of the Halo's now.

"Consider it done.." Howard replied and began barking out the orders to ready Peacemillion for battle.

"Squadron leader one, do you copy."

"Affirmitive."

"Surround and destroy the unidentified gundam....the other three squadrons will descend upon Peacemillion and destroy it. Afterward, everyone is responsible to recover the Ice Lancer....at ANY cost."

"Ten four, moving out..."

The squadron leader barelyfinished his transmission...Dacota was instantly upon him. The pilots lastvision was of the Devil come to take him home...and then the claw of evil tearing through his amor...his life ending in a brilliant flash of orange and gold firey debre. Carriernumber one didn't last long after that either...Peacemillions hull opened up in places to reveal hidden cannon-turrets. Bright yellow cannon fodder exploded in red splashes ofbrilliance against the hull of carrier number one untill it exploded in super-novafashion, aweing the entire Omlan force. Suddenly, space became a war-zoneof havoc. Halo suits dispersed and seemed to be everywhere around Dacota....but he didn't care...they couldn't touch him.

Lucian blinked. Infront of him, unfolding before his eyes, was his first battle. After the destruction of carrier number one, Halo troops seemed to be everywhere around Lucian and Peacemillion. Peacemillion's cannons were still firing, taking out a few Halo suits here and there....but the greatest show was farther out. Lucian could see the Devils Cause. It was fast...incredibly fast. Where ever it streaked, another explosion dotted the blackness of space. It wasn't long before all four squadron leaders were gone...

A Halo suit came from the left of Ice Lancer. "Surrender...you're coming with us."

"I don't think so.." Lucian grinned as he spun the controls around to shove the icey tip of his weapon through the head of the Halo suit..it exploded and Lucian was left grinning. _This is alot like a video game...except you only have one life, and no continues..._ He thought about that for a moment._ Oooookay...so it's NOT like a video game..._

The more he moved Ice Lancer, the smoother his actions became. Stiff arm and leg movements smoothed out and blended with thrusts from the engine to move more quickly. After experimenting with the controlsfor a minute, he had figured out almostall movements of the arms...the wrists, forearms, elbow, shoulder, even the individual fingers. His attacks with the Ice Lancers weaponbecame more and more precise.

_Where is he? He said two minutes....I can't even see him now..._

As Lucian craned his neck to see all veiws around him and try and find Dacota, the Devils Cause appeared to his right and stopped just infront of him.

"Everything okay?" Dacota looked around to get a count on the enemy. Eight suits attacking the hull of Peacemillion on the north side, and four on the south side. _Thats only twelve...my last count was thirteen..._

"Yeah, but we'd better get those suits off of Howards back." Lucian moved his controls, and Ice Lancers thrusters changed position, spinning Ice Lancer to face the direction of the four suits attacking the south side of Peacemillion. About that time, Dacota's thirteenth Halo reappeared directly behind the DevilsCause.

The Halo's buster rifle glowed with energy, and it released it's blast into the back of the gundam.

Dacota and his Gundam flew forward with the force. Red indicator lights on his report panel showed breaches in his amor and malfunctions in several systems.

Dacota's eyes showed hatred, although his face didn't change from it's usual stone-set expression. The Devils Cause spun with precision, and the extendor claw shot out quickly to end the life of the Halo pilot in one quick flash of light.

Peacemillions turret-cannons had already taken out the three remaining carriers, and all that was left were the few remaining Halo suits.

_I'll let Lucian take the four to the south...he can handle it_. Dacota began his game of cat and mouse with theeight Halo suits, using his tremendous speed advantage to easily dodge their blastsand elliminate them...one by one. As usual, the game didn't last long and the ending was the same...Dacota takes all.

Dacota caught up with IceLancer to find him torturing the last Halo pilot.......

The show confused Dacota at first, but then he opened his communication lines and everything seemed to come together. The IceLancer would smack the Halo suit in the head with the blunt end of it's weapon....and then...

"Stop that! I said surrenderyour weapons and come with me!"

"Make me." Would come Lucians reply, and WHAP...another slobberknocker to the Halo's head.

"I SAID STOP THAT!! SURRENDER YOUR DAMN WEAPON!"

"Nah" Came his reply again, and WHAP...another smack to the head.

Dacota smiled, and backed off a ways to watch. _Heh...the Omlan pilots orders are not to harm the IceLancer...heh...this is great..._

He watched for another ten minutes, and by that time the Halo pilot was foaming at the mouth.

"THATS IT! I DON'T CARE ABOUT ORDERS! I'LL BRING YOU BACK IN PEICES!!"

"Temper temper!" Lucian smacked the Halo in the head on final time, but with the right end this time.

Dacota broke the radio silence that followed. "That was entertaining, but I think we should get back in Peacemillion...we both need repairs, and Peacemillion needs some too."

"Uh.." Lucian hesitated for second. "I think we should probably stay out here."

"And why, exactly, is that?" Dacota raised an eyebrow.

Lucian pointed to a blip on his radar. "See that? That looks like another mobile suit....a big one....as in, another Gundam..."

Dacota was silent. _And the battle comes to me..._

***

Aramith chewed his tongue.Ok, he thought, I have a few options here…I can surrender and face god knows what kinda punishment…or I can run like hell.

The cat nyowed and the boy nodded."Run like hell it is, puss."

The suit took off an instant before he hit the foot pedals, turning in a graceful arc and heading in an eastward direction.The Australian swallowed and mentally cursed himself.His mouth tasted of blood."I really need to stopchewing on this goddamned thing."He muttered, looking at the readouts on the screen before him."Well, according to this, we're way the hell away from them already.I suppose I could always ditch the suit somewhere remote and hitchhike home or somethin'."

After an hour or so of flying, the Artemis suddenly began making soft "blip" noises and sped up.Aramith looked around himself and removed his feet from the pedals, only to findthe suit was controlling itself, speeding along a course he apparently had no say in.

"Well this is goddamned scary.When the hell'd mobile suits get minds of their fuckin' own?!"

Line after line of readouts began scrolling across his screen and suddenly three high pitched beeps sounded in quick succession.The suit dropped like a rock, skidding it's feet along the dark ocean waters below.Aramith squinted and spotted what looked like explosions just below the surface of the water an instant before a loud grinding noise sounded.His displaywent black, save for two sentances, glowing in deep red letters:

Fuel resources exhausted.Please allow access to pilot resources.

"Huh?"

The sentences disappeared, only to be replaced with a new set:

Please allow access to pilot resources.

Please allow access to pilot resources.

Please allow access to pilot resources.

Aramith just stared at the screen and muttered a profanity.The screen shifted, spelling out a new message:

Access denied.

Cockpit power will remain constant for 3 hours starting now.

Access denied.

Sinking.

Sinking.

"Sinking?!OH FUCK!You gotta be kidding me!"Aramith desperately began typing on the keyboard before him and stepping on the pedals."Come fucking ON!"

Pilot denied access.

Sinking.

Artemis landed on the sandy ocean floor, sending up a dark cloud, obscuring Aramith's vision of the outside world.There was a domed city only a few hundred meters away, and it was under massive attack.

There was a soft click and a slight hum and Aramith sat dumbfounded as the image of a rather distraught and surprised man filled the screen before him."This is Atlantis02, who the hell are you?"

*******

** **

**Chihuahua, Mexico**

"Kai?" Sra. Bellisima said as she came up to the corner desk.

Kayin Amoah sat up and shook his head, his long hair rolling back behind his shoulders. He pulled off his sunglasses and looked at his teacher.

"Yes, Sra. Bellisima?"

"Kai, you've been called up to the office. The principal would like to speak to you. It's of the utmost importance." She handed him a green slip of paper. "You probably should take your backpack."

"Right. _Gracias_, Sra. Bellisima." Kayin dropped his folder into his backpack and zipped it up. He slung the weighty bag over his shoulder and wheeled himself out the door. Outside the door stood an OMLAN official. As Kayin came through, the officer gripped his shoulder.

"Are you Kayin Amoah?" He said gruffly in English.

"Yes, I'm Kayin." The officer let go of his shoulder.

"Come with me." The officer started towards the administration building. Kayin followed closely, the wheels of his chair squeaking slightly in time with the officer's footsteps. As the two entered the admin building, Kayin noticed many OMLAN scientists through the window into the principal's office.

"If I may ask you, sir, what is this all about?" Kayin said as they went through the corridor.

"I'm not at liberty to address that question. It is not under my directives." They entered Principal Ronaldo's office. The principal and about five scientists, all wearing OMLAN badges, turned to face Kayin. Immediately, the principal put his hand on Kayin's shoulder.

"Kayin, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm afraid that you will no longer be able to attend Che Guavera High School."

"What? Why not?" Kayin began to rise out of his wheelchair, forgetting that his legs were paralyzed. He fell backwards as one of the scientists stepped forward.

"Young Master Amoah, I believe I can answer that." He also spoke English.

"Kayin."

"There is no time for that. I'm afraid that we're pulling you out of your school."

"But why?"

"As OMLAN associates, we have access to school test scores. I know this sounds a tad ridiculous, but we monitor certain students who receivehigh rankings in tests. Your name has come up numerous times in our system, particularly inmechanics and trigonomics tests. We normally only pay attention to college students, but your intelligence is … well … astounding for your age group." He took his glasses off and wiped them down. "What I'm trying to say, well, we're offering you a job."

"Offering? By pulling me out of my own school? More like you're forcing me into a job." Kayin laughed. The scientists kept straight faces, but the OMLAN officer smiled slightly. _At least someone doesn't have the stick driven up far enough to lose their sense of humor,_ Kayin thought. "What kind of a job, Professor…"

"Rambert. Professor Rambert." He nodded, grasping Kayin's hand. They shook as Prof. Rambert cleared his throat. "We at OMLAN require that only the best of mathematic and mechanical minds be usedfor our services. However, we've seen that your skills are just what we need in our major constructions."

"Constructions?" Kayin said. "What kind of constructions?" _Mobile suits,_ he thought.

"Mobile suit constructions." Prof. Rambert echoed.

"Mobile suits, huh?" Kayin rubbed his chin. "What do I get out of it?"

"We are prepared to give you the highest pay for a beginning technician, as well as any and all resources you require for your own personal side projects." One of the other scientists coughed. "Within reason, of course."

"That's to be expected." Kayin smiled. "What about future schooling?"

"We can provide you with adequate education until proper graduating level. At that point, you will be allowed to choose from every university in the world."

Kayin leaned his head back and smiled. He closed his eyes, put his sunglasses back on, and began laughing. "My my, you certainly can be persuasive. Alright, I'll take the job, on one condition."

"Name it."

"My condition, Professor Rambert, kind sirs," Kayin pulled his hair back and tied it with a frayed piece of twine, "I reserve the right to refuse service unless my requests for side projects are met. Agreed?" He stretched out his hand. Rambert gripped it and nodded. _You ass. You may be intelligent, but you certainly lack wisdom. When I'm done, you're done. And no one will be the wiser._

Kayin wheeled himself down the metallic halls toward the technician's dorm. He dragged one of his hands against the cold, silver-blue shimmering wall. _How ugly. I hate these complexes. The cold durasteel plating of these walls makes sure that nothing can be remembered for long; it can just be wiped clean. Walls are supposed to support more than the building, they support those contained within. It's like the people here. The only thing they support is construction of the mobile suits. _He shuddered as he opened his door. He went to his desk and switched on the computer monitor, and spread across the desktop were the words,"LOST CAUSE XX0TF-01." _Huh. Now that's odd._ He opened up the Phoenix Internet Explorer and entered the OMLAN Tech Database.

"Let's see. Mobile suit model number listings…" He tapped the keyboard to the correct sites and moved the cursor to the custom search. "XX0TF-01." He typed it in, and suddenly the screen was blocked out by a huge error message."Authorized access only. Please enter user name. User name…" Kayin, thinking best to keep from being caught, entered the name. "Gratius Rambert. Okay, passcode…" He thought for a minute, then typed in something that seemed to be the dumbest thing he could think of. "KAYINLUCK."

ACCESS GRANTED

"Well slap my ass and call me Sally." Kayin smiled as the write-up loaded.

NOTICE: THE FOLLOWING IS FOR AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY! GENERAL ACCESS IS PROHIBITED!

Gundam Project model 01 mission synopsis:

The Gundam mobile suit (from hereon referred to as "01") model number XX0TF-01 is currently on hiatus. The propulsion calculations have proven to be nearly impossible. The actual construction has been completed, but it is awaiting final engine and core construction. The 01 is code-named "Arachnis Blade." The blueprints are available here.

Type: Tactical espionage offense/defense

Test Pilot Listings:Heihachi Shinjo - Deceased

Eiji Mishima - Deceased

Fo Chang - Deceased

Paul Williams - Deceased

Lei Fai Luang - Comatose

Propulsion Calculations are currently unavailable.

_Arachnis Blade, huh? Wait a moment… I recognize those names. Those are the heroes from the Three-Year War back in 313. The same war that OMLAN came to exist from. They're all incapacitated… from piloting that thing? Hmm… I think I've found my new side project. _Kayin printed the information out and opened up his personal comm system.

"Central Comm Room."

"Yes, this is Tech Officer Kayin Amoah. I wish to speak to Professor Gratius Rambert, please. Immediately."

"One moment, Officer Amoah." There was some easy-listening music playing over the comm line. Kayin grimaced into the mirror and held his thumb and forefinger up to his head like a gun and pulled the "trigger." Just then, the speaker crackled. "Yes, Kayin?"

"Sir, are you currently busy?"

"Not at the moment. Why?"

"Can you meet me in Corridor B-25?"

"Yes, of course. What for?"

"I'll explain when we can meet in person."

"Alright, Kayin, I'll hold until then. Rambert out."

"Good. Amoah out." Kayin rolled up the printout and tucked it into his arm rest. _Well, let's see if they can weasel out of this one. _He turned himself around and wheeled out the door. As he wandered the hallways, people glared at him out of the corners of their eyes. One officer even growled when he passed. Kayin wondered what the problem was. Suddenly, a barrel-chested man in his'40s stopped in front of Kayin. "Excuse me. I need to get through."

"Shut the hell up, cripple!" The man yelled at him. "You're no better than me!"

"Beg your pardon?"

"You think you're a better technician just because you're only a kid and OMLAN wants you, well YOU'RE NOT!" Two other men came up behind him. "We've worked here our whole lives, and you think some punk-ass little kid's gonna show us up?"

"Sir, if you will just let me pass, I think we can avoid –" Kayin stopped short as a huge, hairy fist slammed into his face. Blood instantly drained from his mouth and nose.

"Not so big now that they can't protect you, huh?" They all laughed.

"Sir, please… just let me pass…" Kayin coughed.

"I don't think so." One of the other men brought up a large wrench and swung it down at Kayin's head. But before it could connect, Kayin reached up and caught the man at the wrist. "What the hell?!"

"I told you to let me pass." Kayin dug his fingers straight into the man's wrist, making him drop the wrench in surprise. Kayin grabbed the wrench with his other hand and sent it spinning into the third man's forehead. "You should've listened." He let go of the man, then picked himself up by the arm rests and swunghis legs into the man's head. He toppled into one of the durasteel walls.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"What does it look like, stoepkakker?" Kayin smiled, assuming his 'Crocodile Dundee' Australian accent. "I'm kickin' your asses!"

"What the fuck's a stoepkakker?" The last man said before he was hit in the stomach with Kayin's wheelchair. He fell over, gasping for breath. Kayin, who was sitting up against another wall, crawled over to his fallen wheelchair and climbed into it.

"Stupid little dog that sits on the front porch. That's a stoepkakker." He continued on his way to Corridor B-25, wiping the blood from his smile.

"What did you need to see me about, Kayin?" Prof. Rambert was leaning against the wall when Kayin showed up.

"It's about my side project."

"Oh? You're taking on a side project? Wonderful. What is it?"

"Oh, it's a new type of mobile suit."

"Oh really?" Rambert cocked an eyebrow. "A new mobile suit?"

"Yes. I've nicknamed it the Lost Cause, but you may have heard of it by another name."

"Which would be?" Kayin opened up the compartment and pulled out the roll of printer paper. He handed it to Rambert, whose jaw dropped when he unrolled it.

"Mobile Suit Gundam Type XX0TF-01. The Arachnis Blade."

"…………"

"What's wrong, Rambert? I thought all my requests were _fair dinkum_."

"But… the… the 01? How did you…?"

"Never mind that. I want you to take me to see the 01."

"Take you to see the 01? But that's against policy…" Kayin sighed as Rambert spewed an endless line of excuses.

"Look, Rambert, either take me to see it now, or I'm _not_ working on any other mobile suit projects at all. Got it?" Kayin reached up and grabbed Rambert by his shirt collar. Rambert gulped and nodded."Good."

"Kayin, I must warn you. The 01 is highly unstable." Rambert led him down the corridor until they reached a massive bulkhead with a control panel. Rambert slid his ID badge through the reader. There was a sound of a modem connecting, followed by a piercing beep. Thebulkhead slid up, revealing a cavernous warehouse."If you are going to work on it, might I suggest that you allow someone else to test it?"

"And have them end up _vrot_ like the other test pilots? The 'war heroes'?" Kayin snuffed. "No. I've decided to work on this myself, I am not going to let some poor_maat_ get wasted by that thing. I'm prepared for any and all possible risks." He looked up at Rambert. "Is that clear?"

"I understand, Kayin, but I do wish you'd reconsider." They proceeded past multiple disassembled mobile suits, some in such a state that rust had covered their carbonadium armor. "We'd hate to lose you. Your skills are quite an asset."

_We'd hate to lose you, because we're all idiots and can't think of the most obvious solutions._ "So where is the Lost Cause, anyway?" Kayin said, his arms tiring a little from pushing himself this entire time.

Rambert stopped. "Right here." He patted his hand against another locked door. "I'm going to give you the option one last time: will you reconsider this undertaking?" Kayin sighed and crossed his arms."I thought not. Oh well, we did make an agreement." He placed his palm over the lock's scanner. The screen lit up the warehouse with a weak, but eerie, green light. There was a sharp ping, and the door slid into the floor. Rambert entered, then searched the dark wall for the master control switch. He flipped it, and suddenly the entire room sprung to life. Lights across the ceiling flickered on, computers began humming, and various machinery went into ready mode. Kayin looked into the now-illuminated hangar, and his eyes went to the size of dinner plates. Standing in front of him was the mobile suit he'd been looking for.

The Lost Cause stood at an impressive height of 44.81 meters, although it was slimmer than many of the mobile suits Kayin had seen, evenby Gundam standards (although, in retrospect, he had never seen a Gundam before then). Its green, black, and blue armor glistened in the lamplight, even with the fine layer of dust that had gathered upon it. The four extra appendages on its back loomed menacingly in the upper shadows, the claws hanging down like serrated knives. Surrounded by a separate scaffolding, Kayin could see a long staff with a large plasma generator attached at the top.

"Professor?"

"Yes, Kayin?"

"What is this Gundam's weapon?" He said, pointing at the staff.

"What? Oh. That's a plasma ax."

"Plasma? Why not use the traditional thermal or ion energy weapons?"

"The 01 Arachnis Blade was designed specifically for tactical espionage. The plasma energy used for the blade of the ax leaves a clean cut that can even pierce gundanium - without leaving an energy signature. In other words, it's completely untraceable. This was an innovation designed for the 01 that was never reproduced in any other way, shape, or form. The plans for the large-scale plasma generator were destroyed."

"But how can something this size be effective in tactical espionage?"

"Simple. The 01 is outfitted with the "Illusion Web." It's a sort of cloaking device that not only camouflages the 01 itself, but also an equal payload. As well, it has a specialized sensor array that can scramble all currently-used scanning frequencies, allowing the 01 to be almost totally undetectable."

"Incredible." Kayin was genuinely amazed.

"That's not all. The engines are plasma-powered as well, which makes it impossible to tail the 01 by energy signature alone. Unfortunately…"

"Unfortunately what?"

"The plasma engine is what's giving us the problems. We can't get it to function properly. Every time it gets up and running, it explodes." Kayin wheeled himself over to the computer array that Rambert was standing at and looked at the printout laying over the keyboard.

"Are these the formulaic equations for the thrust system?"

"Yes. Here, you can examine them all you like. I doubt they'll do much good." Rambert handed him the printout. Kayin began wheeling himself up to the higher platform up near the Lost Cause's head. "Wait, where are you going?"

"I'm going to find out what's wrong. Uhm… would you mind leaving me alone? I'll send for you when I'm ready. Is that alright?"

"Of course, Kayin." Rambert began walking out the door.

"Wait, one other thing."

"Yes?"

"I want you to design a cockpit for me. One where I can use the foot pedal controls with my hands."

"… I'll try. Good night, Kayin." Rambert left.

_Good. Now that he's gone, I can see what's ailing you._ He looked into the cold, emotionless eyes of the Lost Cause. _However, I want a promise from you. Once I have you up and running,you are mine, understand? No one else can own you. I will be your pilot, and you will be my Gundam. The Lost Cause will be anything but._ Kayin then slid himself down onto the floor and spread out the printed sheets. He momentarily looked up, and noticed two shooting stars. _How beautiful… wait, those aren't stars. They're moving upward! And.. they're colored… one's red, and the other's a blue-green shade. How odd._ Kayin returned to the papers.

After a mere half-hour's worth of formulating, Kayin wheeled himself back down to the floor and over to the main control panel, where he opened up a direct comm link. "Professor, it's Kayin. I found out what's wrong. Come imme--" Before Kayin could get the words out of his mouth, Rambert was rushing through the far door, coming to a horrendous halt at Kayin's side. "That was fast."

"Never mind that. You've found the problem?"

"Yes." Kayin pulled out one of the formulas he had copied onto a scratch paper. "Since plasma energy doesn't work as a base fuel, you had to use a conversion device to transform the normal fuel into plasma, correct?" Rambert nodded. "Well, the problem was with your conversion ratio. According to this, one ounce of fuel will convert into one ounce of plasma. Well, that's the problem. Plasma is ofa lower density, therefore allowing more potential energy to be packed into an ounce than average fuel. According to the same calculations used to operate the plasma ax, the formula should be 1 ounce of fuel equals 4 ounces of plasma. You were burning too much plasma in the conversion process." Kayin handed Rambert the paper. After a moment, Rambert's face took on a look of pure astonishment. Kayin grinned.

"My god… you're right." He ran to the control panel. "I've got to get our technicians on this immediately!" Suddenly, Kayin grabbed his hand.

"No. As of the moment you agreed, this Gundam became mine. The only other person allowed to work on it will be you. No one I don't trust will be touching my Gundam." He pulled his sunglasses off so that Rambert could see the seriousness in his eyes.

"…I… I understand, Kayin." Kayin let go of Rambert's hand.

"Now, did you design the cockpit?" Rambert nodded and handed Kayin the printout. "Good. Now, let's get to work."

"What? Now?"

"You catch on quickly, professor." Kayin smiled. "Follow my plans and you should get the plasma converter working. I'm going to fix up the cockpit." He wheeled himself up the ramp and onto the scaffold neighboring the cockpit opening. He depressed the airlock, and the hatch sprung open with a loud hiss of pressurization. _Ugh. Nothing I hate more than stale, recycled air._ He swung his limp lower body into the pilot's seat.

"Wow… done in five minutes… that's got to be a record of some kind." Kayin said. "Professor! I'm done with the cockpit modifications. You finished with the conversion generator?"

"Almost, Kayin." Rambert said with a grunt.

"Professor?"

"Yes?" He peered his head around the corner.

"Call me Kai. Only my mum calls me Kayin." He smiled.

"Alright, Kai." Rambert laughed. "There. I'm finished."

"Great. You mind if I taker 'er for a test run?" Kayin began laying his accent on again.

"Go ahead. But Kai?"

"Yes, professor?"

"Be careful. Don't be getting yourself killed." Kayin smiled. He settled himself back into the cockpit and shut the airlock behind him. Within moments, the large Plexiglas eyes of the Gundam lit up with the eerie green glow of all gundanium mobile suits. The scaffolding aroundthe Lost Cause retracted automatically, and a blast of steam released from the static joints of the Gundam blew the dust from it, giving it an unearthly sheen. Kayin laughed gleefully as he made the Lost Cause take its first true steps forward. Rambert keyed in a combo lock, and the upper section of the hangar's roof slid back, revealing the blackened Mexico sky. Kayin gave a small thrust with the boot jets, and the Lost Cause landed on the dirt with a ground-shaking thud. Just then, Kayin knew what he must do. Adjusting the external viewscreens, he activated the plasma missiles.

"Plasma missiles?" Kayin said over the comm line.

"Everything is plasma-powered." Rambert's voice cut through the static. "Like I said before. The 01 is completely untraceable. Even the missiles can't be traced."

"Well, you certainly did your homework, professor." Kayin smiled. He switched on the crosshairs on the main viewscreen and took aim at the larger part of the OMLAN facility. "Well, it's been good getting what I could out of you." He flipped up the Plexiglas box covering the launch button and, without hesitation, mashed the red activator with his fist. Silence. Then, the four missiles appeared in his viewscreens, leaving faint green plasma trails behind them. They flew a straight course until they impacted. The explosion was barely audible in the airproof cockpit, but the results could be seen from miles away. The blue-green explosion lit the surrounding desert in a brilliant display ofcolor.

"Kai! What happened?" Rambert crackled.

"I took out the facility. Didn't trust 'em." Kayin stuck his tongue out and grinned.

"What?!"

"Look, I left you alive because I trust you. You won't sell me out to OMLAN. You'll let me be who or what I want to be. And for that, professor, I respect you."

"…"

Kayin activated the broadband comm line scanners. Suddenly, the radio crackled on the OMLAN frequency.

"…heavy firestorm…crrrrk…mobile suits…bzzzt…what? It's a…crrrrkl…GUNDAM!---pssshhhhh….." The radio went dead.

"Ah, sounds like I'm not the only one out there." Kayin grinned. He reached back into the hangar and ripped the plasma ax from its scaffold. "Professor, you stay here and keep the facility safe. I'm going to give this ol' girl a trial by fire."

"What?" Rambert broke through again. "What do you mean?"

"I'll explain when I get back. Kai out." He activated the ax, its blade humming to life with a green flash. "Plasma ax - operational. Dual wrist claws - operational. Razor Web harpoon - operational. Quad plasma gatling guns - operational. Well, we're off!" Kayin maneuvered the four back legs into launch positions and, with a flick of the indescript metal switch, the suit vaulted upward into the night sky, heading directly for the moon.

Rambert watched the Gundam as it began to leave Earth's lower atmosphere, its legs splayed out, giving it the image of a spider against the brightly lit moon. He shivered slightly.

"Gundam pilots!" Kayin broadcast over secured comm lines. "This is Kai Amoah, pilot to the model XX0TF-01. The Lost Cause is coming in. Prepare for backup! Ha ha!" Kayin laughed gleefully again as he neared the spatial explosions.

***

**Atlantis 02**

Dorje stared at his blue pen. Thuds echoed around the colony, but he didn't care. The pen was blue. Blue. Not Mediterranean blue, not aquamarine blue, not sky blue, not blue green, not cobalt blue, not midnight blue, not denim blue. This was the blue that defined blue. He jabbed once across the paper, his eyes scratchy and dry. _Oren... Mom… _The thuds kept coming, faster- faster- faster. How long would the gundamium hold up? Who gave a crap anyway? The pen was blue. Suddenly, a hand clamped down on Dorje's shoulder.

"Master Dorje, you have a ... visitor."

"..."

"It's important."

"..."

"Do you evencare?" Dorje ripped up out of his chair."Do you think I FUCKING CARE????" He was breathing deeply, his face flushed. "My mom is FUCKING DEAD! Oren is FUCKING DEAD! Do you think I FUCKING CARE????" he repeated, angrily. The pen was still blue. Blue anger...

"It's another Gundam."

Suddenly, Misha's hard-mouthed face emerged from his blurry blue vision. Dorje shook his head slightly. "Gundam? Here?" He turned cold. "What do I care?"

"Do you want the entire colony to die?"

The boy stood for a minute, a thousand emotions tracing themselves across his eyes. Finally, his head snapped up. "No." Without a moment's delay, he walked swiftly out the door. Somehow, they were able to get him out of a hatch safely.

Moving through the slightly muddied waters, all hecould think about without crying was the pen. It was blue. Blue water, blue blue blue blue blue.... an old song caught his memory... "I'm blue, da ba dee da ba da..." he sang softly, his eyes wide and sad. Screee craaakkkk...

"If you are.... scrrrr... done singing, you could... drrrraaaaaapppp.... pick me up."

"OH MY GOD!" Dorje sat up so suddenly that his forehead bonked on a control panel. He sat back, rubbing his head.

"Well, Gundam?" scrrraaaakkkk

"What the hell?" His viewscreen fuzzed a couple of times before the raised eyebrow and attractive face of a boy his age became clear.

"Who are you?"

The eyebrows flickered and the pretty, poutish mouth sighed. "Pick me up and I'll tell you."

Suddenly, the eyes got very close to the screen. "Why are you in a Gundam anyway?" Vvvvvwwwooosh!!!

The flying arm of a mobile suit neatly clicked against DarkAngel's left wing. The mouth on the viewscreen chuckled. "Ya can't pilot, kid."

Dorje's mouth was hanging open. Pilot? Gundam. Here? What the hell? Gundam. Pilot. Nice teeth. Gundam? The pen is blue. Dear Lord... Suddenly, he caught the eye of the other boy. "Uh, are you Australian?"

By the time Dorje had hauled the other Gundam (referred to as Artemis by its pilot) onto his back, the colony's guard force had quelled the storm of battle and was picking up the pieces. Shlooop! Both Gundams were sucked into a hangar and left to drip dry. Slowly, Dorje uncurled his body from its sitting position and opened the door. The other boy was already standing, wringing out his wet white tank top, on the floor. The brunette dropped easily to the floor and walked over to him. The other boy looked up. _God. He looks even better in person..._

"So- wanna tell me what a Gundam is doing on the bottom of the ocean?"

"I... I live here." Dorje blinked twice. "Sometimes."

The other pilot laughed. "This is your summer home, I guess."

"No- I-" It was hard for him to keep a straight thought with the blonde-haired-drop-dead-I'm-a-pilot-too-soaking-wet boy staring at him. "It's just a sometimes house."

The Australian's eyebrows raised skeptically. "This whole damn complex is a HOUSE?"

"IIE!" yelled Dorje, turning a brilliant red. "I... I live here... sometimes_." SHIT! Can't you even TALK???_

"Iie? You speak Japanese?" The pilot looked impressed.

"A little." Dorje cleared his throat. "I'm Dorje Stavros, by the way."

The Australian grinned. "And I'm Aramith Jones." He held out a hand that was wet with seawater. "Nice to meet you."

He grimaced and moved his hand back. "I think we need to check poor Artemis for leaks..."

Suddenly a rather angry looking cat jumped down out of Artemis's hatch. It shook itself firmly and sidled up next to Aramith. He grinned at Dorje. "Cats don't like to get wet."

Dorje reached out a hand that it sniffed suspiciously. He scratched under its chin. "Tigers do."

Aramith laughed. "Too bad my poor pussy isn't a tiger."

***

Eji stared at the radar blips, then back to his comm System. He registered two blips, both entering peacemillion, yet a third comm Signal he received a second ago. An all band communiqué that referred to the Gundam pilots. Quickly he paused…hovering on the outerfringe of space/atmosphere. Not enough air to breath, but no vacuum, a pleasant mix of both. Eji punched up the comm. System and his dad's image quickly flittered on the screen.

"Hey where's that backup you said I'd get?" asked Eji curiously.

"It should already be ahead of you but…" started his father.

"But what?" asked Eji quickly sensing the truth

"We lost contact with them a few minutes ago. Last communiqués were of a battle. Chances are there destroyed." Said Eji's father with a small headshake.

"What?! Then who the hell just called in as my backup then?" said Eji as he punched up the last message. His father looked curious for a second then was interrupted by a man with a report. There was some rushed talking and then Eji's father turned back.

"Eji, did you happen to pick up anything on your radar around the Mexico area? An explosion or another Gundam perhaps?" asked his father.

"Nope, both gundams remained around the peacemillion. I didn't get a thing from the Mexico area." Replied Eji as he began moving back on course to Peacemillion.

"Damnit, we lost contact with that base and preliminary reports are saying it was a explosion of some sort. No matter, you NEED to bring back that Icelancer…and fast." Said his father as he closed off the channel.

Eji rolled his eyes and nodded to himself. Alone, two on one, a whole carrier fleet wiped out before him, and that strange backup call. Eji looked back to the comm Systems and noticed that he was being listened to, he didn't put up his scrambler and in the report it said that the Icelancer was communication based, long range sensors, upgraded communucation system. The whole works.

Eji dashed forward back on course to the peacemillion. He soon arrived in a wreckage of what was once the fleet. Eji paused beyond the peacemillions gun range and opened up his comm System. Cracking his knuckles he spoke into the open channel.

"Ok, I know you can hear me so lets get this over with. You stole Icelancer, I'm here to get it back. The first squad you destroyed but you'll find e not so easy. Heres something to get you thinking…" said Eji as he quickly picked up a buster rifle from the floating wreckage.

Sighting onto the ship he checked the charge and then fired the gun. The massive blast arced forward and slammed into the hull of the ship. A small explosion lit up and the ship rocked. Tossing the gun aside Eji, waited for a response.

"…Fucki…Co….What the H…." a scattered comm Signal came over his system. It was the missing test pilot, Lucian Dysvek.

Suddenly a smaller explosion blew forth two bay doors. Inside a gundam burst out and the repair bay inside was in turmoil. Eji sighted in on the Icelancer behind the other gundam.

_Musta hit the repair bay…_thought Eji as he waited for the new gundam.

"You came a long way to die…" said the pilot as his Gundam flew forward.

The gundams flashed by each other for a second, each was measuring up the other. The new gundam seemed to be injured in the back.Its propulsion was slower but still fast enough. Suddenly the other gundams hand shot out towards Eji. Eji dashed sideways and deflected the claw to the side with the gundams wrist. As the arm pulled back, it tore a large chunk off from the hand. Eji zoomed up and avoided a dash with an energy sword from the enemy gundam. He zipped back left, then down. Barely avoiding the sword swings. As he dashed to the left the gundam swung around and released the claw at him again. With no time to dodge, Eji kicked up some debris and grabbed onto the piece of wreckage as the claw tore into it. The claw stopped…inches from the gundams chest. Eji's gundam strained to hold on, as the other gundam attempted topull back. Quickly eji let go as the metal split and the arm returned to its side.

"Your slow, but lucky." Said the pilot.

Before he could reply Eji's gundam was rocked forward by a slash from the Icelancers lance. His gundam rolled forward and sparks blew forward into the cockpit. For one stupid second Eji dropped the controls.

_Stupid, stupid. I shoulda been watching my radar..I shoulda…_Thought Eji to himself as the first Gundam zipped into his view.

Eji knew he was dead. He was outnumbered, he was down and open, and that second of time was all it took to kill him. Then something clicked in his mind. With almost superhuman speed Eji regained the controls and with luck and speed, caught the arm/claw in mid-flight. The metal against metyal groaned but the claw stopped faraway enough for Eji to breathe. The gundams groaned as they were pit against each other again, but this time Eji was ready. The claw moved forward slowly and snapped open and close a few times and inched forward a few feet. Before the Icelancer could attack Eji activated the thermo blades in the fingers and they leapt to life tearing into the armor of the claw. With a almost backflip Eji tore the claw from the arm and was propelled back as the other gundam was knocked back for a second from the suprising blow.

"'Im not that slow I guess. Now give up the Icelancer , its coming with me. I don't care if you come or not Lucian but that gundams coming with me either way." Said Eji as he pulled the claw free from the finger blades and held it in his hand. He floated there, cathing his breath for a second and hoping the fight was over.

"Wha…How did you know my name?" said Lucian over the comm.

"He's from OMLAN. I'm sure they have you up on the most wanted list by now." Said the other pilot as it zoomed next to the Icelancer.

"You're not getting anything back pal, and I'm certainly not dying for that damn OMLAN." Said Lucian.

Blazingly fast he and the first Gundam crossed flight paths on a attack course to Eji. Icelancer zipped left as the first one zoomed in energy sword raised and Vulcan guns blazing. With a hast "step" back Eji spun under the Icelancers blow and chucked the claw back into the first gundams face.

"Wait, I didn't say I was gonna kill you.." started Eji.

He was cut off as the Icelancer laid the staff into his back, the already injured armor held but the propulsioin systems underneath screamed in protest. On instinct Eji punched the Icelancer with his fist. The resulting "twang" was not heard in space but gave reason for both pilots to pause.

Thefirst Gundam only paused for a moment as the claw hit it however. Diving from above the gundam blocked his view of Icelancer as a energy sword dashed forward to his head. Eji crossed the blades over the gundams face, and blocked the sword. The resulting sparks blew forth and blinded both pilots for asecond. The thermo generator in the left pinky gave out but the others held. Eji kicked his way free and zoomed back a little. Propulsions at 60%, back armor hull breaches, left pinky generator fried, and thewhole leftarm response time down 15%. Eji swore a little and hoped he had enough to make the trip back to Earth.

"Had enough?" said Lucian as he and the other Gundam pilot readied themselves for another attack

Eji laughed. "Are you gonna give up the Icelancer yet?" he replied. In the emptiness of space Eji swore he could hear laughter coming from the Icelancer.

***

"Whoo! That's funny!!!" Lucian cracked up into laughter. "This guys a regular comedian!!! Give up. . .and he's the one who I've been playing Voodoo Doll with. . .haha . . " He deactivated the Neo-thermal lance and snapped it into place benieth the armored Sensor array. "Dude, Dacota. . .this guys basically disabled, Even I could avoid another go around without a single scrape, and youknow my reaction time sucks as it does. . .Whatdaya say we steal the guy and take him back to the Peacemillion for any sort of debriefing we can get him through? I mean. . .You didn't give me a chance, did ya?"

"Well, then again, Lucian, you were also the one to become disabled from taking out an arm. . ." Dacota replied, staring at the now floating Deaths Head. "He's already tried to destroy the Peacemillion, I don't think he has a choice now."

"Oooh Yeah! Prosecution on warcrimes!" Lucian chuckled. He then turned flipped the Comm to three way. "Hey Omlan guy.. . Did they at least get a good picture of me for my wanted pictures? Cause last time anyone did that, they had a picture of me with curls wearing a polkadotted dress. . .really unbecoming I tell ya. . . But the point is this. . ." He then activated the Dragonbayne, the Sudden surge of thermal energy shot out in a near ovaline shape, then with an accurately placed blow to the back of the enemy gundam completely severed the reactor lines to the propulsion system.". . .As you've probably read, I didn't have a choice to go anywhere, so. . .I don't think you got a choice either. . .Betcha your parents' gonna be worried or something about cha now!"

"Hey!!" The enemy pilot screamed as the systems inside the cockpit emmited acrid smoke. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Well, it looks like he's takinga prisoner the clumsy way. . ." Dacota mumbled. "This guy better not pull off anything strange, Lu, or else I'll have rightful cause to come after you for it. . ."

"Oh come on, I'm only 14!" Lucian smiled back. "You can't do anything to me, it'll be "Cruel" and I bet Nadia'd be on ya for that one. . ." He rubbed his chin and regarded the communications logs dor a second. "You know. . .I just remembered that garbled message I got. . .you know, that one under white purposes. . .someone arriving to HELP us or something. . ."

"Hey! That's my ba . . . ." Eji started, only to shave the screen hiss back at him two seconds later when Lucian hyperjammed his communications systems.

"That guys annoying. . . He knew my name, yet he never told us his. . .at least I'd think he'd be that respectful. . .oh well, we'll drag his name outta him in a bit. . .but. . ." Lucian transferred the incoming file to Dacotas screen. "I got this incoming message like four minutes ago, like someone saying they were coming here for backup. It wasn't this guy, his comm. system has a different frequency altogether. Normal scans couldn't reveal anything either, so I'm kinda expecting something really weird."

"Weird. . . As is what?" Dacota asked.

"Weird as in Glowing Green martians from another planet weird." Lucian rolled his eyes, then transferred the large scale dual overlay scan. "This is the superimposing of a trace element and an Ultraviolet scan, and as you see there were two different targets on approach, one was this guy. . ." Lucian then nudged the drifting Deathshead with the armored foot of the Icelancer."The other one shoulda been here by now, but it was completely invisible on other scan frequencies. "

"So you're saying, we've got an invisible bogie out there right now?"

"No, I got a boogie right now!" Lucian blew his nose into a hankerchief. "Actually what I'm thinking is it's even more of a stealth system then the Devils cause, I mean it could be anywhere right. . ." Suddenly the Icelancer floated back into a solid object, the impact jolted Lucian for a second. He gulped slightly "Like I was saying, anywhere, like right behind me. . . .hehhe. . ."

"Hey! You might want to watch where you're floating aimlessly." The reflective systems on the second unknown gundam was working almost superbly, as it changed from a star speckled black to its Green, black and blue motif"The names Kaiyan Amoah, looks like you guys took care of yourself up here."

"Uh. . .Hi. . . uhm. . . .yeah. . . ." Lucian squeeked, noting that the second gundam had its hand gripping the delicate meshed sensor array. "Could you kinda. . .well. . .let go. . . That's kinda breakable and all. . .and well. . .we were just about to be. . .Uhm. . .leaving . . .or stuff.. . "

"I don't believe this. . ." Dacota spat. "If we're going to fight we might as well get this overwith."

"And I don't want to fight you either" Kaiyan replied.

"Oh come on, Dacota, he came under white flag. . .not like he's gonna be trying to attack us. . .maybe he's on the same sorta thing your on. . . .Uh-oh. . .we better be getting this . . .whatever it is back to the peacemillion. . ." Lucian removed the Neothermal lance and tapped the floatingDevils cause with the blunt edge. "I think the guys oxygen is leaking out of there. . . .Uhrrr. . .Are we gonna let BOTH of 'em into there?"

"I don't care any more. We're in need of repairs, Lucian, and we betterbe getting back anyways. The Peacemillion is in a frenzy at the moment from the hull breach cause by the first idiots Ion charge shot." Dacota turned the Devils Cause around, the Primary Propulsion system carrying him away at a medium speed, even for his Gundam.

"Hey, can ya hold this for me?" Lu handed the Neo-thermal lance to the second pilot. "Don't break it or nothing, It's the only weapon I gotz, besides the twin Vulcan cannons." He then grabbed a leg from the disabled Gundam and used his Auxiliary burn drives to boost its way to the Peacemillion. "At least I'm a trusting one. . .Dacota would have chopped you both into two If I weren't here or something. He almost killed me to be exact, and I didn't even attack him. Oh yeah, Kayin, The names Lucian, Lucian Dysvek. The other guy was Dacota Singer. He may be a little rough and tumble, but he's actually kinda friendly at times. I think I'm talking too much . . .heh. . .I got a perfect gundam then."

"Yeah, I guess you did, complete communications I see, they outlaid it with everything." Kayin relied, following right behind the Icelancer.

"Hey, one sec, I'll talk to you later, I gotta shut down a lotta my communications shit or else I'll blow something out onboard. . .I'll talk to ya outside the Gundams, when we're inside."

"I copy, Lucian."

***

**Paris France- OMLAN Courtmarshal Hearing**

"Star Commander Kimo Kaila Lolakhan, you have been suspected and turned in by parties anonymous for orders of espionage and general Mayhem within the OMLAN organization. do you plead Guilty or not guilty for these charges of treason"?

Kimo Stood perfectly still at attention in the bright white spotlight of the dimly lit room. His eyes scanned slowly back and fourth, regarding the 5 shadowy figures which represented the top officials of the OMLAN corporation.

"I was created by the OMLAN organization for use as an advanced tactical combat humanoid. I served OMLAN well and fought your petty wars of aggression..however over the long years of bettering myself and trying to become a true human I found that the veryorganization that I sought to defendwas corrupt and weak at its very core. My orders to my lesser officers were to find out all that I could about the inner circle of OMLAN. Deep dark records that would reveal to me exactly how far the corruption had spread, And needless to say I was disgusted by my findings"

The shadowy figure who sat in the middle of the group stood up and pointed his finger at Kimo. His whole body shook yet not a word escaped his mouth. Kimo glared back and very smoothly brushed a small piece of dust off of his fine red dress suit. After what felt like an eternity the official spoke in a raspy choked up voice...the kind of voice you would expect from a man who's Dog had just died.

"*guh* HE ADMITS! TREASON! Ill have your HEAD for this Lolakhan! GUARDS, SIEZE THIS TRAITOR AND.... AND TAKE HIM TO THE FIRING CHAMBER"

And small smile emerged from Kimos mouth as the guards who had been standing behind him did nothing

"GUARDS..DIDENT YOU HEAR WHAT I SAID"??!

"They heard chancellor....but you didn't let me finish whatI was saying earlier. When I discovered the disquieting way that this world organization had been running itself, Ever so slowly I began to place my trusted friends and Fellow A Class symbiants in positions of power....and with thatpower and allegiance to me your OMLAN became no more, and my supreme Universal power took hold. Actually I thought you were smarter than you are.. and in my over-preparedness to take OMLAN by force I began a small side project to ensure my power

The Chancellor, still cloaked in shadows, seemed to have lost all of his strength and slumped down in his chair and in a raspy voice whispered

"Project Gundam"

Kimo laughed "Ha Ha! You're smarter than you look. . Yes, Project Gundam was my greatest ideal...and of all the things its FALIURE has actually gotten me to the final phase of my plan. Here with the high Counsel of OMLAN.........guard"

Moving his hand out slightly to the left that guard on that side placed his pistol in Kimo's Palm, and with unnerving quickness Kimo secured and pointed the gun at the chancellor with the Raspy voice

"Don't feel bad.. you brought this upon yourselves"

Pulling the trigger the world stopped for an instant as the bullet passed through the heart of the Chancellor. After the shot the next thing heard in the room was athud as Kimo dropped the pistol to the ground and wheeled to leave the room. One of the guards emitted a small giggle but it was quickly stifled as Kimo firmly smacked him with the back of his hand

"This is no laughing matter Colonel.. the Dead chancelloris to be given a proper funeral, I have a list of his family who you will contact personally. they are however not to know the true circumstances of his death. the rest of the chancellors shall be placed under house arrest until it is decided that they are no longer a threat to me. Finally I want to you to set up a rally of the highest officers in OMLAN where I will tell them of my takeover and will give them their options as to what they would like to do next. Do it correctly and you may get that cushy desk job in Hawaii you wanted"

With a smart salute and a "YES SIR" the Colonel watched as Kimo exited the room, and was quickly escorted by a beautiful young lady dressed in the same red uniform

"Did everything go as planned sir"

"Exactly Anelike, what is the update on those missing Gundams"?

"Well Sir. I've got some good news and some bad news. We Haven't recovered any of the missing suits yet but we do have one reported stationary in the Mediterranean sea...the Pilot probably ditched it and we picked up itssensor beacon early this afternoon".

"And the Bad news"?

"Well the new Gundam just off the line has gone missing after an explosion at the production facility. the Chief scientist there reported that it was moved to a more secure location after the explosion but it sounds fishy to me sir..... And We have a report of another one of the gundanium suits entering combat with 4 carriers and vanishing in the Omega quadrant of the solar system"

Kimo stopped dead in the hallway.. a look of extreme dissatisfaction on his face as he immediately began chewing on his Lip

"If you want something done right.. you have to do it yourself. Ane, Please have the Techs' ready my Gundam.. Ill be going to where we received the groups last transmission...and if you would like you can escort me in your Halo"

"Oh! Very much sir!"

Within an hour and with a deafening roar the Gundam "Malice" Kimo on board blasted off in a shuttle towards Eji and whatever awaited them there

***

Atlantis 02

Aramith cleared his throat and shook some salt water from his large, and now uncomfortably clinging, pants."So, Dorje, not to be rude or anything, but you got a change of clothes?Or a big ass dryer or some shit like that?"

Dorje looked up from where he'd been scratching the cat's chin."Well…I'm sure there's gotta be something around here….somewhere."

Aramith stared at the dark haired boy for some time before clearing his throat again."Um…could we maybe go there then?"

Dorje gave a start and blushed all the way to his ears."Gomen, gomen!Hai, um, this, this way please."The brunette cursed inwardly as he led Aramith and the white cat out of the hangar and down a hallway."Um…so…why're you piloting a Gundam, anyway, Aramith?"

Aramith gave out a small choked noise."Heh…well, dunno if I'd call what I did piloting…."

Dorje reached a door and turned to face the Australian, a quizzical look upon his gentle features."You flew Artemis here, ne?"

"Well…she sorta flew ME here…see….heh…"He sighed and chewed the side of his tongue."I sorta sneaked onto the basenear my house, I was bored and shit.Anyway, I got in and found Artemis, and sorta got in her and accidentally flew outta the goddamned hangar she was in."The cat sat in front of the door and began to bat at itinsistently.

"Oh, yeah, the door."Dorje smiled and opened it, allowing the cat and Aramith to enter.Once all were inside, he closed it and leaned back against the wood."So you….stole that Gundam?"

"Well…sorta…I mean, I had a choice of running like hell, or staying and facing fuck knows what, ya know?So I ran, intending to just find a safe spot and settin Artemis down there and hitchinkin' back home or some shit like that.But she up and came here, not listenin' to a damn thing I tried to to, then fuckin' sank to the bottom of the ocean and initiated contact with you guys."

Dorje knitted his eyebrows together."That's one of the wierdest stories I think I've ever heard…what were you planning on doing when you sneaked onto the base anyway?"

"I dunno, I told ya I was bored.It's sorta one of those 'let's see if I can do it' type things."He looked around himself briefly."Damn, this your room or somethin?"

Dorje blushed."Hai…um…let me see if I can find you some clothes."He opened a drawer and sifted around until he found his largest pair of pants and held them up."These look ok?"

Aramith smiled shyly."Look fine, mate.I'm much obliged for the change until this shit dries."

Dorje nodded and grabbed a large, black t-shirt, handing both the shirt and pants to Aramith."Something's miss..OH!"He blushed deeply."Um…underwear…"

It was now Aramith's turn to blush."Ah, no worries, no worries.I'll be fine with just this."

"You…sure?"

"Yeah, no worries."He fidgeted slightly."Ano, you have some place where I can change?"

"OH!Gomen!I'll just wait out in the hall and you can come out when you're done, ok? Then we can figure out what to do about Artemis."Dorje hastily slid out of his room and again leaned against the large door.

Aramith looked to the cat who had made itself at home on Dorje's large bed."At least ONE of us is taking this all in stride."He slipped out of his wet clothes and into the dry, warm ones Dorje had given him."Once this all sinks in though, I'm gonna fuckin' freak, puss."

The cat curled up in a ball and drifted off to sleep.

Battleship Peacemillion

"Howard. Open the repair bay doors, and prepare Mobile Suit bays 3 and 4 for new arrivals." Dacota radioed ahead. Over his shoulder he could see the IceLancer with the Deaths Head in tow,followed by the new green mobile suit.

"How many times am I gonna have to tell you NOT to bring home your kills...you're worse than a damn cat...but instead of finding moles and chipmunks on my kitchen floor, I find more Gundams..." Howard shook his head.

Dacota chuckled softly. Howard always knew how to make Dacota laugh...it must be a hidden talent or something. "You know...you're right. I'm kinda making a habbit out of this, aren't I?"

"No no ..I wouldn't call it a habbit...a fetish maybe, but never a habbit..." Howard grimaced while giving Dacota a very ironic/sarcastic look. "Just hope that we have enough Gundanium left to fix your suits as well as the new ones...we need more, but Omlan isn't transporting any untill next week ...so we'll have to wait till then to hijack some."

"No problem...I'll go without repairs if there isn't enough." Dacota arrived at the repair bay air-lock and entered.

"I don't think so...if anyone goes without repairs it'll be the new gundam...you need to be 100%." Howard closed the outside airlock door, and opened the inside to let Dacota in. The Devils Cause slowly tromped over to the first repair bay. The blood red lights in the eyes of the Gundam flashed then flickered before dying out as the mobile suit powered down.

Dacota jumped from his cockpit, floating through the weightlessness of space. He landed gracefully, and made his way to Howard.

Moments later, the airlock opened again to admit the IceLancer with the defeated Omlan suit. The third suit, the one Dacota still didn't know the name of, entered the airlock after the IceLancer and the Deaths Head had moved into their repair bays.

"Howard. The one in the green gundam is a freind...but the other new gundam pilot is still confirmed enemy. I'd suggest using caution." Dacota started walking away from the controll room. "I'll meet everyone later...I have something I need to do."

Howard grumbled. "Bah..next thing ya know, he'll be bringing home injured birds and expecting me to fix THEM too ..."

**NAME**

"Dacota Singer"

**SECURITY ACCESS CODE**

"004-24370-AMX"

**PROCESSING....ACCESS GRANTED...SECURITY LEVEL 5**

"Access: Gundam Profiles"

**PROCESSING....FOUND...LISTING:**

**ALPHA GUNDAM PROFILES:**

**Wing, Gundam Alpha**

**Shenlong, Gundam Alpha**

**Heavyarms, Gundam Alpha**

**Deathscythe, Gundam Alpha**

**Sandrock, Gundam Alpha**

**Tallgeese, Gundam Alpha**

**Zero, Gundam Alpha**

**Epyone, Gundam Alpha**

**BETA GUNDAM PROFILES:**

**IceLancer, Gundam Beta**

**DeathsHead, Gundam Beta**

**Artemis, Gundam Beta**

**DarkAngel, Gundam Beta**

**ArachnisBlade, Gundam Beta**

**MECHA GUNDAM PROFILES:**

**DevilsCause, Gundam Mecha**

**LIST END**

****"Search"

**DATA?**

****"Crossrefference: Gundam Alpha, Gundam Beta, Gundam Mecha"

**SEARCHING...FOUND**

**DATA DISPLAY:**

**The Alpha Gundams were created inthe year A.C. 195 for the solepurpose of destroying the organization known as OZ...all except for the TallGeese and Zero which were prototype Gundams and the Epyon which was created by OZ to defend against the other Alpha Gundams.After the defeat of the White Fang, the Alpha Gundams were retired...their location today is unknown.**

**The Beta Gundams were created by Omlan. Their true purpose is as of yet unrevealed, but it is known that their purpose has some significance in the impending attack by Omlan against the Colonies...excepting the ArachnisBlade which was, like Zero, a prototype suit for the other Beta Gundams.**

**The Mecha Gundam, the Devils Cause, was created by rebel scientists who forsaw the destruction of the Colonies by Omlan. It's purpose is to seek out, and destroy, the Beta Gundams.**

**END DATA DISPLAY**

** **

****Dacota thought for a moment. _So there are two more Gundams I must find._ He slowly got up from the computer. As he made his way back to the others, he had many questions on his mind...but one bothered him the most. _I was taught about history...but why weren't the Alpha Gundams ever mentioned to me? Why wasn't I told about them?_ He reached the mess hall and found everyone sitting around a table talking.

"Dacota! There you are! Sit down boy, I bet you're hungry.." Howard motioned to a seat next to him.

"No...I need to talk to yo-" Dacota was cut off.

"No need to worry, the Omlan pilot is in a prison cell in section A. He put up quite a fight...refused to come out of the gundam." Howard laughed. "But we opened up hisventilation and pumped in some sleeping gas...he's sleeping like a baby. I fitted him with one of the new security collars...if he goes into a restricted area of Peacemillion, or trys to leave in the DeathsHead, it'll explode." Howard chuckled again. "Also, it'll blow if he tries to take it off." Howardhanded dacota a small wrist band. "Put that on. It's the controll band for the Omlan pilots collar...you can use it to reprogram the access code to take off the pilots collar."

Dacota snapped it on and punched in a few buttons, changing the security code. "That was a good idea, but I need to talk to you abou--" He was cut off again.

"Now, only you know the code to get the collar off of the pilot...and that wrist band monitors you're heart beat." Howard's grin got devilish. "So, if he kills you, your heart will stop and BOOM ...he dies too. Pretty damn good, eh?"

Dacota leaned down close to get right in Howards face, and then whispered to him. "Come with me now. I need to know something."

Howards expression instantly turned from happy to very serious. "Right."

As the two turned down a dark hallway, Dacota asked his question. "Tell me about the Alpha Gundams. I want to know everything."

Howard was surprised...at first. His expression turned sad. "I knew you'd ask me this someday...come with me."

Howard lead Dacota down a long hallway...in the middle of the hallway, Howard stopped and pressed a secret panel on the wall revealing an elevator door that Dacota had never seen before. Following Howard into it,Dacota descended down into a part of the battleship that he had never known existed.

The air was stale, and obviously uncirculated for a long time. Howard lead Dacota down a dusty hallway that ended at a door. Punching in a few numbers, the door opened.

"Dacota. What you are about to see is between you and me only. No one else must know." Howard flipped a switch which turned on the lights...and what Dacota saw simply amazed him.

Standing against the wall to Dacota's right, all lined up, were eight mobile suits. They were all huge...and very familiar in appearance. Gundams.

"These are the Alpha Gundams. I've spent most of my life searching them out and restoring them...it took me a long time, but I finally found them all." Howard said, as he started his tour.

"This, is the Gundam Wing. It was piloted by the legendary Heero Yuy" Howard paused. "...it was destroyed during the battle between Earth and the White Fang, but I was able to find most of the remains and restore it to near perfect condition.

Thisone here is the HeavyArms, which was piloted by Trowa Barton. I found this one on a nearby colony. The colonists of the year A.C. 195 had made it into a type of memorial to celebrate the unity of Earth and Space after the defeat of the White Fang...it was soon forgotten though, which is why I was able to buy it from the colony.

That is Shenlong. It's pilot was Wu Fei Chang. I also found this one on a colony, but it was in the possession of Wu Fei's descended family. It wasn't easy persuading them to sell it to me, but as you can see I was able to convince them.

The Deathscythe, piloted by Duo Maxwell. This one I found abandoned on Earth...it had been dumped in the rainforests of South America...it was overgrown with jungle and was very badly in need of repairs. However, I was able to restore it to near complete.

This one is the Sandrock, piloted by Quatre Barbara Winner. It too was in the possession of Quatre's descended family, but as you can see I was able to purchase it from them as well.

The TallGeese." Howard sighed. "This gundam was defeated during the battle against the White Fange by Shenlong. I was able to find most of the parts and rebuild it, but sadly, it'll never be operational again.

The Epyon.....destroyed when Battleship Libra was destroyed. I was able to find most of the debre of the Eypon floating around earth along with the remains of Libra, but like the TallGeese, it'll never be operational again. It's pilot, Miliardo Peacecraft, was said to have been killed....but the cockpit of the Eypon was in perfect condition...suggesting that the pilot survived. Nobodies ever seen him since though..."

Howard slowly walked up to the last of the Gundams. Gundam Zero.

"This...is Gundam Zero. It too was piloted by the great Heero Yuy. This suit was given to my ancestor by Heero himself, and has been kept in our family ever since. My fasination with the Zero is what sparked my desire to seek out the other Gundams."

Howard turned to Dacota and put his hands on Dacota's shoulders. "This Gundam holds the key to unlocking a pilots true potential. I was told that when the time was right, I was to reveal this secret to you....but you aren't ready yet." Howard looked as if he was in deep thought. "These Gundams hold us together...they are our bond. We each have deep roots in these mobile suits, and that is was makes us so alike. I am at liberty to tell you about you're heritage...but not now. You aren't ready for that yet either....but someday I will tell you."

Dacota thought deeply about everything he had been told. _Howard knows who I really am..._ The prospect of finally getting the answers he had wanted for so long almost blew his mind.

Howard sighed. "We need to return to the others. Also, I'm sure Omlan isn't gonna be happy that we have three of their suits now...we need to hide."

Dacot returned to his room. Thinking about the overwhelming information he had been told, he eventually fell asleep.

Howard stood at the controlls of Peacemillion, worry across his face. _We dont have enough supplies to keep repairing from damage that Omlan causes....we need to hide for now._ He set Peacemillion into stealth mode, making it invisible on most forms of detection...and then set a course to the dark side of the moon._ If they do pick us up on radar, we will look like a part of the moon...we'll make repairs and then decide what to do next...._

Peacemillions engines fired up, breaking the silence of space. And within minutes, they were well on their way to the dark side of the moon...

***

Atlantis 02

Dorje stared at the lump of clothes that Aramith handed him. "Uh..."

"You're gonna dry my clothes, right, mate?"

"Uh..."

The Australian laughed, looking very relaxed in Dorje's oversized clothes. "You're not going to leave them dripping all over the fucking floor, right?"

"Don't you want me to dry your underwear?"

"Ah..." Aramith's face flushed a brilliant red.

"Ah... no. I'm fine."

"Won't your butt get cold?" Dorje grinned, his ears turning scarlet.

"Oh shit. Well, kid, I actually... damn, I wasn't gonna tell you, but.... well, I don't wear underwear."

"OIP!" shouted Dorje and backed into the wall. Of course "oip" doesn't mean anything, but at that minute, the first thing on his mind was Aramith's underwearless state and the last thing was whether he looked like an idiot or not.

The other boy started laughing. "Chill out, Dorje."

Dorje shrugged, still mightily embarrassed. Theclothes started dripping a little on the floor and the brunette started walking down the hall towards the dryer. Aramith followed close enough to hear Dorje mutter "I suppose I'll have to get used to it..." He grinned at the boy's back and then caught upwith him.

The two Gundam pilots sat cross-legged on the floor watching Aramith's clothes tumble around in the dryer. They tried not to stare at each other, but both wondered fiercely what the other was thinking. Finally the blonde broke the silence.

"Ah... so, Dorje, how long have you been piloting?"

"I've been studying a while I guess, but I've never actually piloted until today." Dorje's brow wrinkled in concentration and an effort to halt the tears that crept up behind his eyes. "I could have been betterif I'd started earlier. I could have... I could have saved my mom and Oren.."

It was no good. Want them or not, the tears were going to run down his cheeks. The Australian didn't quite seem to know what to do. Awkwardly, he reached out and patted Dorje's shoulder. "I'm sorry, kid. I'm fucking sorry." He leaned down and looked with sincere sadness into the shorter boy's eyes. "I could have been there, too."

"It's not your fight," Dorje sniffed, but the tears kept coming.

"It shouldn't be anyone's," said theother boy, scooting closer. "When fucking nice kids like you get caught in the middle of shit,that's when it becomes messy." He uncomfortably put an arm around the brunette. "Someone like me- damn... sometimes I think I'm a curse come to life."

Dorje began to sob uncontrollably. "Aw shit... ya don't have to ... damn..." Aramith was startled to find that his own vision seemed slightly off focus for tears. He wasn't usually like this. What the hell was wrong with him? Finally Dorje's tears seemed to abate. "Sorry... I'm sorry."

The Australian's arm slid off his shoulders. "It's okay. Now, wipe your tears and let's get something to eat. I'm fucking hungry."

"Yah oonn esh niiiish," mumbled Aramith around a mouthful of peanut butter and jelly.

"Eeeh?" asked Dorje, who was busily stirring up some tapioca pudding. "Whazzat?" His nose was still red from crying and he looked really rather like an overgrown teddy bear.

"Ah shaid-" the Australian pilot took a gulp of whole milk "that your room is nice. But it's kind of ... well... fucking weird."

"You sure like that word, huh?"

"What word?"

"Fucking."

Aramith thought for a minute. "Guess I fucking do." He grinned at the other boy.

Dorje laughed. "Seriously, though- what's wrong with my room?"

"Oh nothing wrong with it, it's just odd- all those weird anime pictures up all over the fucking walls."

"Ah... which weird ones?"

"All of them! It looks like a fucking museum!"

Dorje laughed again and licked the tip of his index finger. "Yum.. pudding.. Well, yeah, my room is kind of weird."

"Also... you have mostly pictures of males up. Most mates our age have up pictures of girls!"

Dorje blushed. "I... I'm different. It's the shows I watch, I guess." He smiled apologetically. "Shows like Weiß Kruez don't have any good female characters." He bit his lip, afraid to say anything more.

"Ah eeh shee."

Dorje licked the spoon and began consuming the pudding. "What about you?"

Aramith thought for a minute, and finished his sandwich. "What about me what?"

"Tell me about you!" Boy was that pudding good!

"Ah- there's not much to tell."

"There always is." Dorje grinned at him.

Aramith began to laugh. "Did you know you have a little dollop of pudding on your nose?"

Dorje shook his spoon at the other boy. "You are just avoiding the subject! Now tell or me and my dollop will have to get mean!"

Aramith continued to laugh so hard that his face flushed and he choked on his milk, spraying it all over the table. Dorje chuckled. It was going to be fun with this guy around.

***

Battleship Peacemillion

Kayin used the special mini-crane installed in the Lost Cause's cockpit to descend to the floor with his wheelchair. Lifting himself into his seat, he wheeled out of the hangar bay and into the hallway. A door blocked his entrance.

"Enter ID… Kayin Amoah…" Kayin typed into the keypad

ACCESS DENIED

"Dammit." The door slid open. There, a tall, auburn-haired teen stood. He was grinning.

"Sorry 'bout that, Dacota didn't catch your name, so there wasn't enough time to work you into the database." He extended his hand. "I'm Lucian. You're Kayin, I assume?"

"Yeah." Kayin grabbed Lucian's hand and shook it. "But call me Kai."

"Right-o. Well, then, I go by Lu." The two began down the rest of the hallway.

"I knew there were other Gundams out somewhere, but little did I suspect I'd find _three_ of them right here in space." Kayin said low, but with a twinge of excitement in his voice.

"Yeah. It's kind of amazing how things like that work out, huh?"

"You said it." Kayin looked at Lucian's face peculiarly for a moment. "Uh… Lu… you got a hanger." He pointed at Lucian's nose.

"Ack!" He whipped out a handkerchief and blew his nose. "Damn. I missed one." They both laughed. "So, Kai, do you mind me asking what happened to you?"

"You mean my wheelchair?"

"Yeah. I was wondering a little why you have it."

"Well… during a terrorist attack on my parents' sheep ranch, one of the Minotaur suits destroyed the communications tower… the girders fell and crushed my legs. I'll tell ya, it hurt like hell."

"Minotaurs? But… those were only used by rebel factions against OMLAN installations."

"Yeah. I know. I don't see how a sheep ranch could be misconstrued as such, but it happened." Kayin sighed. "But it's alright. No one knows about it. I have the only copy of my medical records regarding my crippling. It's pretty cool, because then you get options that no handicapped person would when it comes to jobs and stuff, and it's too late when the bigwigs find out."

"I guess that makes sense…" Lucian rubbed his chin. Kayin laughed.

"Of course it makes sense, dammit! I said it does!" Kayin grinned. They passed through another set of doors. Around a table sat a couple of scientists. Lucian sat down, and Kayin wedged himself in between two other seats.

"And you are?" One of the scientists said, pointing at Kayin.

"Name's Kayin Amoah. Pilot of the ArachnisBlade prototype 'Lost Cause.' I'm the new arrival." Kayin saluted.

"Mm."

"Hey, Kai, you want something to eat? It could be a while before we get any kind of lecture about you and the other guy."

"Sure, I could go for some food. _Ag_, you got a vidphone? I need to contact someone."

"Right there." The scientist pointed at a wall mount next to a counter. Kayin nodded, wheeled himselfover to the counter, and vaulted up onto it so his face was level with the vidscreen. He punched in the number for the OMLAN Chihuahua facility. Rambert's face popped up, slightly scrambled.

"Kai?"

"Yessir, professor. I'm alive and well. I've got some news: I found 'em! Three more Gundams!"

"Three more? Oh my. I didn't think OMLAN had been able to construct that many."

"Yeah. I'm currently at the Battleship Peacemillion, in orbit around the moon."

"The moon?!"

"Yup. Hey, how's things down there?"

"Edgy. Someone got a distress call out before you blew up the main facility. OMLAN mobile suits are on their way."

"Shit!!"

"What's wrong, Kai?" Lucian said.

"I've gotta leave." Kayin clicked off the vidphone. "My hangar bay is under inspection. I've gotta get back down there to defend it from OMLAN." He dropped back into his wheelchair. "Keep the food on hand for when I get back, alright, _maat_?" He wheeled himself out and back to the Lost Cause. He activated the cockpit arm and lifted himself back into the seat. With a loud pop, the cabin pressurized while Kayin activated the Illusion Web and set it to standby. The hangar door opened as the Gundam rocketed towards Earth.

"…krrrrk… Kai, it's Lu." Lucian hissed over the comm.

"What's up?"

"If you're going against an MS battalion, you'll need backup."

"Then stay on-line. I want to give this baby a true trial run."

"But you could be decimated."

"Nah, if that happens I'll give you a ring, sound good?"

"Sure." Lucian laughed. "Dysvek out."

"Amoah out." Kayin smiled slightly, the viewscreens going red as he entered the atmosphere. After the wave of G-Force ended, Kayin kicked in the autopilot and set course for the Chihuahua facility.

"krrrrshk… attention… please identify yourself to OMLAN forces." A broadcast came in over third wavelength lines. MS-specific lines.

"Identify?" Kayin laughed. "Why do dead men need to know their killer's identity?" He switched the targeting computers on. Instead of activating the missile ports, he retracted the claws on the four spider legs and popped out the plasma gatling guns. The crosshairs showed multiple Hydra MS around the buried hangar. Four crosshairs locked on. Kayin held down the fire button as millions of piercing beams shot forth. He activated the RazorWeb and locked on to another collection of Hydra MS. He fired the tow cable, which enveloped about five MS. He retracted the net, which sliced through the MS like butter. The other four suits fell down and exploded. Kayin reactivated the Illusion Web, andthe Gundam armor shimmered, then disappeared completely.

"Where'd it go?" A broadcast came over. Kayin grinned broadly, then brought himself behind what seemed to be the lead suit. He leaned his Gundam's head in close to the power source, then pressed thebutton for the retractable Spider Jaws. Instantly, the MS was caught in a death grip around its mid back. Thepiercing mandibles crushed into the armor, emitting a strong acid to melt through the metallic hide of the MS. When the jaws sunk through to meeteach other, the Hydra exploded. Kayin laughed.

"Try and find me, OMLAN dogs!" He called over the comm lines.He then activated the Plasma ax and popped out his wrist claws. With one swing of the humming ax blade, two Hydras split in half, and a third was torn to shreds when it connected with the talons. A sensor array pinged a warning, and Kayin used the rear spider legs to grab an oncoming Hydra and literally crush it. Finally, Kayin turned on an external camera as his Gundam came out of cloaking. He stood in front of the final Hydra. "Turn on your external vidcomm, MS pilot." The flash in the middle eye confirmed his command. "Good. Oh, OMLAN, how are we today? I hope we are well. I'm gonna send you my best." And with that, Kayin shifted the Lost Cause's grasp to right around the Hydra's neck joint. He pulled back his other hand and popped out the wrist claws. "G'Day!" He shoved the claws into the Hydra's outer eyes, then pulled them down and through the MS. It exploded with a brilliant display of light and color.

"Kai?"

"Yes, professor. It's safe. In fact, I've made it a lot safer."

"Yes? How's that?"

"You can use these Hydras to create a defense barrier around the base. Also, see if you can repair one for yourself."

"Hmmm…"

"As for me, I'm heading back to Peacemillion. I'll contact you if I need anything."

"Kai, before you go…"

"Yeah?"

"How did the ArachnisBlade perform?"

"Excellently. It's a beauty in battle." Kayin smiled. "Well, I'm off again. Good luck, professor."

The Lost Cause docked in the previous hangar as before. After the entire unloading sequence, Kayin wheeled up to the door again, but not before catching a message through the Gundam's comm system.

"Attention unidentified Gundam pilot. We received your message, and are prepared for your next terrorist attack. We now know your Gundam's capabilities."

Kayin activated the portable comm in his wheelchair's arm. "You don't know shit, OMLAN dog." He smiled and went back to the door, which once again wouldn't open. "Damn."

"Sorry again." Lucian said as he opened the door. Kayin passed through before he could hear the tail end of the final transmission.

"Did you locate the signal? … hmmm, Peacemillion, eh? Ready a battalion."

***

"Jeez, we need to get that thing workin for ya, Kai." Lucian chuckled sourly as he led the way back to the mess hall. "At least I can be thankful you didn't kill yourself on that seemingly self destructive mission of yours. . ."

"Yeah, well . . .At least I built up an apetite." Kayin replied. "I hope you saved me something to eat."

"Uhm. . .well. . . ..I tried. . ." Lu grimaced, stopping short of the door to the Mess Hall. "Dacota kinda showed up and shoveled everything into his face without saying one word. . . Heh. . .Like what could I havesaid? I'm a guest here too afterall."

"So. . ..you're telling me there's nothing left? Now that's hospitality for ya. . .. Sheesh. . ."

"Yeah, you're telling me. . .lemme see if I can find something of the edible variety for ya. . .there should be something around here besides rats and crickets. . . ." Lu grinned slightly and motioned for Kai to enter first. "After you, jest wait at a table or somethin. . .I'll be back. . . Gonna find Dacota and make him get you something and actually talk for more then 5 seconds. . ."

"So, he's rude and he doesn't talk much? What a mix. . ." Kai chuckles slightly and wheeled himself into the large room. "Hurry up, I'm starved . . ."

"I gotcha." Lu replied with a grin then turned and ran down the opposite hallway. "Lemme see.. . last time I saw the little psycho he was walking off. . .uhm. . .LEFT!" He took a quick right round a corner and ran facefirst into Nadia. "Uhm. . .sorry. . .uhr. . .Nadia. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She nodded. "Look where you're going next time."

Lucian bent down to retrieve some of the books that had scattered across the floor, then handed them back to her. "Like I said, Sorry for that. . ."

"It's okay." She replied. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Yeah, you know where Dacota is? I'm kinda lookin for him. . ."

"I think I saw him entering the bridge with Howard a while back. . . ."

"Cool. . .thanks." Lu smiled back."The bridge, that's down that hallway?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll see ya around then. . .I guess. . ." Lu shyly waved bye then took off again, bound for the bridge. _That Dacota. . . . he needs to learn some hosting skills..sheesh. . .even I woulda known better, butnooo. . . he leaves both of his guests alone for extended periods of time. . .what a so called host. . . _Lu snortedas he arrived at the doorway to the Bridge. He pressed a button to the right of the door and it hissed open. Inside, Howard and Dacota were conversing over a pile of papers, many upon which Lucian couldn'tmake out or understand.

"Heya Dacota! The other guest guy is baack and stuff. . .Where the hell do you keep all the food??" Lu shouted.

Dacota mumbled something back under his breath, without looking up to even acknowledge Lucian's presence.

"Errr. . ." Lu fizzed. "That's it! I've had enough of your 'I'm the best and no ones my rival' attitude!" He jumped Dacota and started to drag him out of the Bridge kicking and screaming much to Howards delight. "The meaning of being a HOST is to HOST the people who are VISITING!!! NOT going off on your own like some lone-star COWBOY!!! I'm going to MAKE you sit with us, and you will LIKE IT!!!"

"Get your hands off of me. . ." Dacotasneered.

"Shut up already! Get an attitude check! One of these days someones going to do something to you that'll really change your perspective on life! I watched my parents die, wonder what yours will be." Lu growled back. "Now get in there and get Kai something to eat before I kick your ass!"

***

Dacota and Lucian sat at the table, watching Kai eat his pile of rummaged food. Lu grinned slightly as Dacota silently leered at him. After about the fifth confused stare from Kai, Lu laughed sourly.

"Well, he was being a dork so I had to drag him halfway here. . ."

"Funny. . .Wouldn't think you'd have that in ya after what I saw you pull off at that ambush . . ." Kai swallowed and took a drink of the soda."You're goofy, but cool."

"Yeah, I'm cool, I'm cool!"

"You're full of yourself. . ." Dacota grumbled back.

"Oh come on, cheer yourself up! You're one sour ass if I've ever seen one. . .I'd mix ya a drink if I knew where some Alcohol was. . ."

"Are you two friends or what?" Kai paused halfway between bites, a smile flickered across his face.

"Yeah, I guess you can say that.. . Hmmm. . .So that's all we're gonna do, Dac? Wait around as OMLAN attacks us?" Lu jabbed Dacota in the shoulder with his elbow. "I thought we'd get to do something more interesting like actually attacking another Gundam Factory or something of the sort. .. ."

"All the factories have been emptied, except for one." Dacota replied.

"Then why don't we three take off and destroy it?" Kai suggested. "I mean, it would be a better advantage if us three take on whatever there is waiting for us. . .am I right or what?"

"He's got a point there, Dac." Lu nodded. "Last time you were takin off without me, was that to attack that one factory or what? It'd be easier and much more efficient to bring us along with you now. . .no knowing if you're gonna have a malfunction or something."

"Yes, there's always that chance. I'd rather take a wingman to encrease the chances of a victory." Kai added.

"I guess you have your own separate points. . ." Dacota thought for a minute as Lu and Kai watched from their seats. "We'll leave in an hour or so, us three. . ."

"YAY!" Lucian almost jumped out of his seat, then calmed himself as Kai and Dacota stared at him strangely. "Whaaat? This is fun! . . .. Isn't it?"

***

An hour later the engines of three separate Gundam suits hummed to life as the pilots swiftly brought them up and running.

Lucian grinned as he made the final checks and waited for final verification from Dacota. "Ready when you are Moi Capatane. The Sonic Dragoon is ready toslice it some MS."

"Ditto!" Kai grinned. "I'm up for a lil game or two."

"Good. Then if we're all ready, what are we waiting for."

Almost simultaneously, the three pilots screamed out of the air filled Hangar bay of the peacemillion straight into the Null of space, straight for the athmosphere of the earth.

***

As the three passed through the athmosphere of the Earth, communications went completely blank. They were right on course, as Lucian had seen, and as intel reports stated, it was somewhere in the viscinity of Greece.It wasn't long until they had plummeted through the cloud layer. Like normal, Lucian expected to see the ground suddenly appear through thebottom of the clouds, but a sudden impact crash amost caused him to pee his pants. It took him half a second to realize that he wasn't dead, but instead had crashed headfirst into the Corinthian sea.

"FUCK!" Lucian screamed into the comm. "Kai! Dac! You two there?!?"

"Aye. . ." Kai replied. "That scared the hell out of me. . .stupid round cover fog. . . I didn't see it until it was too late."

Lucian waited a half a minute for Dacota to respond, then got a little worried. "At least you're okay. . .You have any visual of the Devils Cause, Kai?"

"Not since entering the clouds."

"Shit. . ." Lucian mumbled. He immediately started the Icelancertowards theocean floor. Kai followed closely in theArachnis Blade.The dual Quadropillar enginesthat caused much of the slowdown in the air and space battles suddenly had its advantages in the water. At medium thrust, the Icelancer already had the Arachnis Blade falling behind at great lengths."Stay behind me, Kai. I'm going to try to pirate his Homing/detonation deviceso I can find where the hell he is. . .he mighta left us behind."

"Gotcha." Kai replied.

Lucian hoped for the best as he switched on the pirating signal and watched for any activation in the radius beneath him.

***

**Outer Space**

****The Gundam Malice drifted silently in space. A huge black mass with dark green glowing eyes and slight yellow trim. Arms crossed around a massive sword, cradling it gently. The only sound made to break the monotony was the light roar as an occational stability thruster fired its incandesent blue light into the cosmos. a Mere look at the Mighty Machines stance could alert a passerby to the pilots mood.Moments later a Light blue and white Halo suit postioned itsef next to the malice and slowly waved its giant Mecha arm in front of it to push off some Mobile suit wreckage left over from the battle that had ocoured here no more than 2 days earlier.

"Ane..Are you sure this is where we got the last signals from Eji"

Ane stroked over several keys in her neiboring Halo suit before flipping the com switch"Yes Sir, right here in this exact spot..but I cant pick up anything the size of the Peacemillion anywhere"

Kimos face twisted for a moment as he bit his lower left lip and concentrated on the situation. "Forget the Peacemillion, Every suit made by OMLAN has a tracking device installed...just pick up the Deaths Head and the Peacemillion shouldent be far behind"

Cursing herself privately for not thinking of that before Ane stroked several more keys and almost immediately a weak blip appeared on Radar

"We're In Luck Kimo...Ive got something on my radar..Its coming from the dark side of the moon...not a very smart place to hide anything since its so close to our Lunar base.."

Kimo smiled slyly

"Excellent Ane my dear...Im heading towards the contact, you call up a Shock boarding shuttle from the Lunar Base and rendevous 24,34,44, 12,22,32 in20 minutes"

"YES SIR"!!

_19 minutes and oh say 30 seconds later_

Blasting at quarter throtle The Malice soon cleared the Moon and almost ran right into the huge hulk dubbled Peacemillion. Expecting some sort of defensive fire Kimo was quite relieved to realize thatin its powered down attempt to hide the Peacemillionwas nothing more than a sitting duck.

"So this is Peacemillion eh? I expected more from my Old professor. hmm it doesent look like they've picked up anything as small as my gundam with thier auxillary scanner. this is the perfect time to make a quick round and make sure this goes as smoothly as possible"

Soon after Kimo had done a quick round of the PM to check for external defenses a large shuttle with 4 huge retracting claws attached to the bottom like 4 massive legs entered the area escorted by Ane in her Halo suit. Kimo turnd to the group and smiled at Anes efficientcy

"Right in time as usual...begin the boarding procedures now"

Ane saluted with her suit and moved next to Kimo and the Malice as they watched the shuttle attach and bore a hole in the Peacemillions Hull, Sending small amounts of Debris into space. With a small sigh of shifting gears the Chest of the Malice slid open as Kimo jumped out and floated in front of Ane's Halo suit. extending his arm he smiled kindly.

"Shall we"?

Anelike smiled"I was wonder when you were going to ask..Its been a long time since we've assaulted together"

After powering down her suit Ane floated out and took Kimos hand as he turned on his thruster pack and flew them to the exterior shuttle hatch where they picked thier way through the small beach door and into alarge hallway inside Peacemillion where the Met 30 or so OMLAN Shock troops standing over the bodies of several Peacemillion security guards. Once they had secured the Area and began settingup infared sensors to look for more resistance a Large burly man with a small scar on his cheeck stepped forwards and smartly saluted Kimo and Aner

"SIR! We have entered the target sir, what are our orders of execution"?

"I want you to cripple this ship...be careful I know ther is at least on Gundam Pilot onboard so dont underestimate any resistance you meet. Im taking ane with me to find our captured Operative and reclaim our Gundam...Mission time is 1 hour, Move out"

The Gruff captain slauted again before he began to bellow orders over his headset to his sub-bordinates. Looking to the wall Kimo niticed a small holomap conveniently pointing out all the the parts of the ship for its civilian populous. Taking Ane by the arm he escorted her down the winding hallways towards the designated bridge area where hesuspected HIStarget was hiding

"Most of thier defense will be distracted by our "distraction"..We are headed for te bridge to meet an old friend"

Ane and Kimo met littleresistance set aside from a few guards who were easily avoided andguided by the numerous maps on the walls found thier way to the Bridge of the ship where they Met a rather bamboozled howard who was yelling into a radio tofind out what the hell was going on. To get his attention Kimo knocked on the table Howards quickly wheeled around to find the 5 foot 7 Ane grabbing him by the Neck and lifting him clean off the ground. Grinding her pistol in howards face with her she smiled and winked innocnetly at her captive. Howards began to trun red but eventually spat out:

"KIMO! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?!"

Kimo smiled confidently at ane then Howard suspended in the air, brushed a lock of red curly hair back and sat down in the Captains chair.

"IM here for my young employee Professor..You seewe here at OMLAN hold our Pilots in highest regards..and the loss of several due to your meddling has made me very..irritable. I want you to turn Eji over before Im forced to blow this ship out of space"

Howard,who was beginning to turn a lovely shade of red yelled back in a shakey voice

"E....enough with the recruiting videos Kimo.....I..I..cant..release him, hes got a collar on and the only one to deactivate it is Dakota"

Kimo leaned back in the chair and crossed his legs, still smiling contently

"Oh I'm sure theres SOMETHING you can do"

"Mmm..Maybe..Just have super woman here put me down andcall off your team and I can have the Kid brought up...."

Kimo smiled and motioned Ane to drop Howard on the ground where he sat gasping for a minute

"I knew you would come to your sences..Call the boy up and Ill see what I can do about the OMLAN troops"

Deep inside the belly of the ship the Captain of the Demo team grasped a slight flesh wound on his arm as he hotwired a soft spot in the wall and took the elevator down a chute to another Hallway. Placing a small charge on the Door at the end it popped neatly out of place and slid open to reviel a massive chamber with 8 mobile suits in it

_Well..these arent OMLAN, so they gotta go_"K BOYS, WIRE EM UP WITH EVERYHTNG YA GOT!"

When the job was almost done the 8 mobile suits looked like they were tangled in a spider webof explosives when a Young Storm Trooper ran up to the captain..I was rooting through the Peacemillion combat security files and came apon some rather interestingfindings..something called the Zero system. the Catain looked at younger man and smiled.....

"Its Been done....destroy all of the military and security files you can find..including this zero system"

"Yessir"

Soon after the Team had finished its workof wiring up everything they could find a radio patch came through from Kimo on the bridge of Peacemillion. After listening contently for a moment the Captain barked orders at his waiting troops

"OK team..after we finish here we have to head up to the bridge area...set your weapons to safety this fight is over for now...."

_15 minutes later_

Back on the Bridge Eji walked in weaing the collar escorted by 2 unarmed guards, who in turn were followed by 5 OMLAN shock troops

Kimo looked with extreme satasfaction at Howards who nervously grinned as he removed a small tool from his pocket and very slowly and carefully worked at taking the collar off. After almost 20 minutes of Howard holding his breath he breathed a sigh of relief and popped the collar off of the relieved Eji. Kimo and Eji then walked out of the bridge to Get the Deathshead. On the way out Kimo whispered to Ane

_"This mission is now yours my lady..make it quick"_

Ane raised an eyebrow and grinned. As soon as Kimo left the room she leveled her pistol at howards throat and fired a single shot through his spine

"Tough luck traitor....The OMLAN world organization cannot tolerate acts of treachery or violence directed at its military peacekeeping force. For this you have been sentenced to death,may you rest in peace.........."

Turning Her head to the Shock troop Captain and holstering her pistol Anesaluted and spoke:

"Captain, the rest of the crew wil be set free to do what they like, pull your team back to the shuttle and prepair to recieve the damaged Gundam"

"Yes Ma'am"!

Minutes later the Deaths Head was secured by the shuttle and Malice with Anelike in Her Halo blasted off back to earth while deep inside the Peacmillion, a time counted down to Zero and a huge explotion rocked the ship as the 8 mobile suits were torn to shreds.

Kimo stopped to look back as the Peacemillion slowly crashed into the surface of the moon, Explotions sending huge pillars of fire and waves of debris into the inky blackness of space. Seeing this light display he barely noticed Anelike assuming her position by his side

Kimo: Ane..Is the mission complete?

Ane: Yes Sir..the traitor has ben neutralized and we have the Deaths Head and Eji back

Kimo: Exellent..now we have to get back to earth as we'll see what Koa can do about putting it put back together......

Wheeling back towards Earth the 2 Mobile suits blasted off

Parts of Lucian written by Arianne, Dorje written by Deby, Kimo written by Kyle, Dacota written by Beau, Eji written by Justin, Aramith written by Sara. Kayin written by Robin.


	3. Default Chapter Title

**New Mobile Report **

**OMLAN Issue Gundam**

_In the year After Colony 349, the organization known as OMLAN has began flexing its military muscles, slowly gaining control of the world country by country. The self proclaimed leader of this organization, Kimo Lolakhan, has made clear his ambitions to unit the world (and space) under one ruling. Those few who still resist the revolution feel the need to arm themselves, building and purchasing weapons of destruction. Tension rising, the Gundam pilots find themselves in the middle of a political war of incredible size...and wondering exactly what they should do._

_ _

_ _

**Chapter 3**

**Dark Awakening**

Eji sat in the chair as the shuttle landed on Earth. He barely even blinked as the ship earlier went through the tremendous G's from re-entry and the turbulence as well. Now he grimaced as he felt his throat again. There was only a fading red where the collar was but he remembered it well. Eji never knew it was wired to explode until the gruff man with the scar told him how lucky he was. That just made him angrier.

_First mission a failure, I was captured and I still don't know if Garou is ok or not. This is…Damnable_. Thought Eji as he silently hit his fist on the armrest. One of the captains from the insertion squad looked at him momentarily.

'Your very lucky Pilot. It's not everyday that Kimo himself embarks on a rescue mission to save somebody. Especially some pilot.' Said the captain as he turned back to his own men.

Eji sat still and looked out the window at the OMLAN base they were landing in. This one was unfamiliar to him, and he knew about many of the bases. Know he just sat back in his chair trying not to become bewildered.

_Kimo? Who the hell was that. Was he the man in charge who escorted me back to my Gundam. He spoke only of how fortunate I was to be in this new era. I never got his name._ Thought Eji as the ship glided to a stop and the crew begin to disembark.

Standing up Eji waited till most of the soldiers had got off then proceeded out the door. Covering his hand with his eyes momentarily at the sudden glare of the sun , Eji heard a voice from his left.

"Welcome back Eji, Commander Kimo would like to speak to you." Said the woman as she pointed to a far hangar. Eji regarded her quietly then walked down the stairs and off to the hangar. He stopped next to her and nodded at her.

"Thank you…Ane was it?" he said as he held out his hand in greeting. Ane apparently taken aback that he remembered her name slowly held out hers and they shook briefly.

"He has asked that you two talk in private, So if you'll excuse me I have other duties to attend to." She said as she walked away towards a small truck with OMLAN MP driving. Eji shrugged and headed towards the hangar pointed out earlier. As he approached he noticed a group of engineers working on a large object. As he got closer Eji noticed it was a large mobile suit, apparently another Gundam. Almost comical in its size there was a large sword lying down next to the suit in the hangar. Eji was looking up at the black and green Gundams eyes when a voice made him whirl around.

"That is malice. He is my Gundam. And I am Kimo, welcome back to earth Eji." Said Kimo as he stepped out of the shadows.

"I hear that I have you to thank for that as well." Replied Eji as he turned to Kimo.

"Well, I couldn't have one of my pilots and his Gundam just go AWOL on me now could I. Besides we need men like you." Said Kimo as he began walking deeper in the hangar and away from the engineers.

"Me, I haven't even finished high school. I cant even pilot the damn thing that well. I lost didn't I." Replied Eji as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"You did better than most. And if our info is correct you were fighting two on one. Id say you did all right, your alive aren't ya." Said Kimo as they exited the hangar and proceeded to another.

Eji thought about this for a second but before he could reply, he immediately recognized his Gundam in the repair bay in front of him. Eji walked over to it and softly punched the gundanium alloy armor.

"If only I had never found this damn thing…" said Eji out loud.

"You would only have died. In this world it is the strong that survive Eji. And to survive sometimes the weak must perish. It is all in the makings of a better world. You have something special in you. We saw it when you attacked the Nanaktu clan, and again in your eyes on Peacemillion. You have something burning inside of you Eji. Something that makes you strong. We could use you Eji." Said Kimo as he walked around to the other side of the Gundam.

Eji was very quiet for a few moments. He walked back a little then looked back up at the Deaths Head's eyes. They glowed briefly, a bright green then winked out again. Eji sighed as he contemplated it all. The past few days weighed very heavily upon him indeed and he was entirely tired. Eji turned back to Kimo and sighed.

"Is there somewhere I can sleep?" Eji said

Kimo nodded and pointed towards a main facility at other end of base.

"I understand you need to rest, please use the main facilities at the headquarters. I'll see to it that a quarters is cleaned for you." Said Kimo as he punched a few buttons on a vid phone on the wall.

Minutes later Eji was closing the door to the quarters given him. He pulled off his shirt and opened his window then sat on edge of bed. Closing the blinds he turned back and landed on the bed. With a half sigh, he slipped into a deep sleep and waited for the next day….

***

"Ok I'll do it." Said Eji as he entered the door. It was a few hours later from his nap and his hair was a little unruly, but his eyes shone serious. Kimo looked at him for a moment and noticed the glint in Eji's eyes.

"Alright, what else do you want?" said Kimo sensing what it was already. Eji smiled briefly then went and sat down in the chair at Kimo's desk.

"Well I'm glad you asked. For I was about to give my condition." Said Eji as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"Hmm….I suppose you want to rescue your friend, uh Garou was it not." Said Kimo as he cracked his knuckles expertly with one hand. " Ok, ill have a team sent immediately out to bring back ga.." started Kimo before Eji cut him off.

"Me. If I'm going to bring him back I want to lead the team or whatever on the rescue." Said Eji leaning towards Kimo.

Kimo thought for a few moments and then looked back up at Eji. He sighed and noted the 'I'm not giving up' look in Eji's eyes.

"You realize you have no experience with these things. It would be better off up to my men….but", said Kimo cutting off a protest from Eji, " I could send you in with my best man and he should handle things nicely for you. You however shall listen to him as if you were a soldier under his command, for as of now you are a member of OMLAN. Understood?" said Kimo as he looked at Eji for acceptance of the idea.

Eji lowered his head for a moment in thought then looked back up. He nodded and stood up for the door.

"One more thing." Added Kimo as he reached the door. "You should attend the briefing in the comm. Room in about an hour. And, welcome aboard to a new era." Said Kimo as Eji nodded and left the room. Kimo spun his chair around and looked out the window as the sun began to set. With a slight flourish he stood up and proceeded out a second door, partially hidden on the side wall.

Eji waited patiently in line as the soldiers suited up. When Eji grabbed his body armor and reached for a gun a large man grabbed his hand. Looking up into the face of the gruff man Eji noticed the scar on his cheek.

"Kimo didn't say nothing bout you carrying no weapon boyo." Said the captain as he let Eji's hand go.

"Well I know how to fire one so don't worry. This was all my idea anyway." Said Eji as he gripped the pistol and placed its clip into place.

"Well your idea or not, Kimo calls the shots so you just listen to my orders and you'll be fine. Ok?" said the captain as he holstered his gun.

Eji pushed the clip up and then cocked the gun back bring the first bullet into the chamber. He nodded in agreement with the captain and holstered his gun.

# Ten minutes later

The assault squad was all quiet as the vans slowed to a stop. The captain leaned forward and talked with the driver for a moment. He then turned back and addressed the squads on the intercom.

"Ok boys, Intel says this place is swarming with baddies. These guys are armed and dangerous and lethal force has been authorized. Now we'll storm in from the front and the back, and when we control the house we'll search for the objective. Keep in radio contact, and lets try to keep the casualties to a minimum. Move out!"said the captain as the men piled out of the vans.

Two minutes later the perimeter guards were neutralized and the first squad was ready to come in the front. Eji and the others in back were set as well. The captain was about to give the assault order when a sniper peeked up over the roof. Eji grabbed his gun and fired off three shots at the sniper out of the corner of his eye. In the silence that followed the would be sniper dropped down to the ground dead, and the gruff captain stare at Eji and the gun three inches to the side of his face. As that silent second passed a roar of gunfire spurted out of the house and everyone took cover. Eji and the captain dove behind a bush and the captain shouted the orders. He looked over to Eji and glared at him for a moment then jumped up as the squad burst down the back door. Eji remained where he was and took a breath. Standing up he noticed a rumbling from below. To his amazement the ground began to lift and with an electric whirring the ground shifted up. Eji dove off and rolled to the left as a number of mobile suits popped out of the hangar. Eji stared up as they took off, when a voice came over the intercom. It was Kazami piloting one of the suits.

"Well now, who would've thought that OMLAN would come after the great Nanaktu clan. It matters not for our time is nigh anyway. And …well if my watch is right you only have 5 minutes." Said Kazami as his mobile suit sped off into the distance. Immediately afterwards the captain began shouting out towards Eji. Eji only replied that the suits had left the grounds. As the captain began to swear to the soldiers Eji gripped his gun and jumped down into the hangar. It was a thirty feet drop and Eji cursed as he hit the ground and rolled. Dusting himself off Eji ran down the bay and deep into the hangar. Down in one of the repair bays sat one of the stolen Leos. It looked stripped but Eji ran to it anyway. Thinking of revenge Eji jumped into the pilots seat and tried to start it up. The suit remained on , but all controls were locked. Eji looked at the panels strangely then noticed the power overload in the suits systems. Jumping out of the suit Eji looked back and saw the jerry rigged suits power system. Kazami had set the suit up to overload and explode like a time bomb. Eji suddenly realized what the five minute remark was and hopped down to the ground. He tried his radio but it wasn't working in the hangar. Running down the shaft Eji found a elevator and hastily jumped in, punching the buttons as he did. A moment later the elevator sped up the shaft and Eji had to place his hand on the rail for balance as the elevator suddenly stopped very abruptly. Eji thought the shaft was jammed when the door slowly opened. Eji carefully looked around for anyone then noticing the body on the desk before him he ran to it. Eji set his gun down on the desk as he approached the body. Eji didn't recognize the man at first but then it sunk in. It was Kazami's father, the head of the Nanaktu clan. There was a gun in his hand but it was clear that this was no suicide. Eji pushed over the body unceremoniously and searched through the desk drawers. Eji found a number of random little things but any proofs of the illegal doings were clearly not here. Eji slammed the desk closed then checked his watch to see how much time was left.As he brought the clock face to eye level he saw a glint of metal in the reflection of the glass. Ducking down Eji spun and with a quick heave upturned the large oak desk on its side. Eji barely slid down behind the cover of the desk before a hail of bullets erupted all around. Eji closed his eyes as glass shattered around him and the bullets tore into the softer wood of the office. Swearing to himself Eji looked around for a way out of there. The gunfire continued around Eji as he took a quick peek. As a bullet nearly took his head off Eji ducked back down and grabbed at the body of the Nanaktu clan.

_Two of em, giving each other cover fire when they reload. Kazami didn't train morons did he. They'll realize I'm helpless soon and move in. Unless…_. Thought Eji as he searched the pockets of the dead man.

Finding no weapon in the pockets of the dead man Eji looked briefly at the dead bulk of the mobster.

Meanwhile Kazami's thugs emptied another clip into the desk and office. The first one turned to the other and motioned to move forward. As the mobsters walked forward under squelching glass and gunfire, they were caught off guard by the swift moving body of the dead head of the clan. They instinctively fired at the mass and screamed as the dead body streamed, bullets be damned right to them. The body slammed into them at full speed and they fell back as a figure darted to the side and rolled near the desk. Before the mobsters realized it was Eji , he already got his gun off the ground and fired two shots ending there life.

Eji had no time for a pat on the back as he checked his watch and noticed how much time had passed. Eji grabbed an automatic off one of the dead cronies and ran out the office down the hall. He nearly slammed into the second squad down the stairs being held off by three of Kazami's gunmen, who had them pinned. Eji quickly shot down one of the men and sped around another corner. Shouting over the gunfire Eji grabbed one of the soldier's radios and turned it on. The captain, immediately began cursing over the radio but Eji screamed back about the bomb. The captain immediately became quiet and began barking orders to the rest of the squads. Nearly a minute later they were pulling out gunfire still hailing after them from the remaining gunmen inside. As Eji neared the captain he was hauled off his feet as the captain lifted him to his eye level.

"What the hell kinda shit are you pulling here. You were to remain in my sight at all times. What the hell is wrong with you. Running around like your fucking Rambo. You trying to get killed!" spat out the burly captain much to Eji's dismay.

"The Bom…" began Eji

"I sent out a two man demo team to disarm it. They should be reporting in an…." Started the captain as he grabbed his radio.

A sudden trembling shook the ground like a small earthquake, then before there eyes a beam of light shot out through the center of the house.

The soldiers scattered as , the light intensified and the rumbling grew louder. Suddenly the ground erupted as the underground explosion ripped through the estate. The light enveloped them all in blinding light, and Eji was hit by flying rubble.

As he half sat half fell to the ground Eji squeezed out the dark from his eyes. Unsuccessfully Eji pushed back the dark pushing in on him. And before he knew it he was slipping down into it again….

***

The clouds were approaching quickly. This was the part Dacota loved most about entering Earth's atmosphere. The thick white clouds blocking all vision, and then emerging suddenly into the royal blue sky. It was breathtaking.

The Devils Cause was in the lead slightly as the three suits entered the clouds...and Dacota smiled. He pushed his throttle to full. He wondered just how much air he could put between him and them in the clouds....

The clouds were thicker and darker than usual. Communications blanked...nothing to be worried about. Probably just an electrical storm nearby. He looked behind him for the IceLancer and ArachnisBlade. Nowhere. He grinned again...and didn't see the water coming as he smashed full throttle into the surface of the dark blue ocean.

He blacked out instantly from impact.

"_"FUCK!" Lucian screamed into the comm. "Kai! Dac! You two there?!?"_

_"Aye. . ." Kai replied. "That scared the hell out of me. . .stupid round cover fog. . . I didn't see it until it was too late."_

_Lucian waited a half a minute for Dacota to respond, then got a little worried. "At least you're okay. . .You have any visual of the Devils Cause, Kai?"_

_"Not since entering the clouds."_

_"Shit. . ." Lucian mumbled. He immediately started the Icelancertowards theocean floor. Kai followed closely in the Arachnis Blade.The dual Quadropillar enginesthat caused much of the slowdown in the air and space battles suddenly had its advantages in the water. At medium thrust, the Icelancer already had the Arachnis Blade falling behind at great lengths."Stay behind me, Kai. I'm going to try to pirate his Homing/detonation deviceso I can find where the hell he is. . .he mighta left us behind."_

_"Gotcha." Kai replied._

_Lucian hoped for the best as he switched on the pirating signal and watched for any activation in the radius beneath him._"

_Two Minutes Later..._

It was dark. All the power seemed to have gone out, and nothing in the cockpit was lit...the controls, communication, weapons systems....it was all dead.

Dacota sleepily woke. He reached up to feel the warm trickle of blood from a gashon his forehead. His vision cleared slowly before adjusting to the dark. Flipping the auxillery power switch, he watched his control board slightly light up....just enough juice to show him nothing was working.

_What the hell happened?_ He tried desperately to remember what had happened. There had been thick dark clouds....and then a sudden impact. He flipped on the external lights. What he saw confirmed his suspicions. _I'm underwater..._

_The engines must have flamed out from the impact..._ He pressed the ignition switch while easing the throttle into the starting position. The engines bubbled for a moment, and then seemed to cough out one burst of flame...before cutting out again. More warning lights lit up on his control panel. _Shit...I guess the DC doesn't like water...._

Now noticing something feeling wet, he glanced down at his feet...which were submersed in water. _Fuck! They're so cold I didn't even notice they were wet..._

Water was flowing into the cockpit from somewhere below the seat. _The DC really REALLY doesn't like water...and neither do I..._ He tried communications. Nothing. The basic motor skills weren't functioning either. He was stranded. Turning on every external light on the DC, Dacota waited hoping someone would find him. But it was incredibly dark at this depth...he doubted anyone would see the lights unless they were right on top of him.

The cockpit slowly filled with water. The process took roughly ten minutes. When the water level reached his neck, he put on his oxygen helmet to buy him more time.

He shivered violently. His lips were blue, and he desperately held himself in a tight hug trying to conserve body heat. He checked his oxygen gauge. Four hours left. _It doesn't matter if I have four more hours of oxy...I'll freeze to death first..._

He sat in silence, shivering. He looked around frantically for the IceLancer or ArachnisBlade, hoping they were looking for him.

_So this is how I will die..._

It wasn't long after that his eyes grew heavy, and he slowly slipped off into a cold induced sleep.

Dacota's first sensation was warmth. Extreme warmth. He opened his eyes slowly. Everything was white...and the blankets and pillow of the bed he was laying in felt so warm...he wanted desperately to sleep more, and just enjoy the heat. But he needed to know what happened. He tried sitting up, but was too weak.

Justthen, a man in a white coat entered...and about shit himself. "He's awake!" The man hauled ass out of the room.

"Wha...?" Dacota was still struggling to sit.

Soon after, the man returned...followed by Lucian, Kai, and two others that he didn't recognize.

"What the hell took you so long!?" Lu said crossing his arms, although his face showed that he was somewhat glad to see him.

"What happened...?" Dacota still shivered. A woman came in with rolling cart, and handed Dac a cup of warm soup...chicken noodle he thought. Or maybe potato? He couldn't tell...but it was warm, and he drank it anyway.

"Well, we entered that cloud bank...and the next thing we know you were gone.." Luciansaid, sitting down in a chair in the corner...Kai stayed where he was, his wheel chair positioned at the foot of his Dacota's bed. The two new boys stood at the door. Lu continued. "We started looking for you, and about twenty minutes later I just about crashed into you...probably would have if I didn't see the lights you left on."

Kai broke in. "We couldn't get you to respond on the comm, and we really had no idea what to do..."

"I radioed Peacemillion an SOS, but I got no response.." Lu looked troubled." But then I got a radio response from this place, saying we could dock and they'd give us what help they could...I didn't want to trust 'em, cause I figured it was our target responding...but what choice did we have?"

"It was a good thing we did trust them, cause after we dragged your ass here they helped us load your D.O.A. Gundam into the docking bay and pull your nearly frozen body from the cockpit." Kai said wheeling to face the man who must be a doctor. "Another ten minutes and you would have been a Dac-sicle."

"Your body temperature was so incredibly low...I don't know how you survived." The doctor said, looking more than a little puzzled. "It was a lucky thing we were able to warm you up, because your vital signs were so faint we could barely pick them up...after your breathing and heart rate returned to normal, we left you to sleep figuring you'd recover in a few hours."

"But you've been asleep for almost two days!!" Lucian said, throwing his arms in the air. "We were getting worried you were in some sort of coma or something..."

Dac blinked. "Two days..? Why didn't you take me back to Peacemillion?"

Lucian looked at Kai, who looked back at him. "We...couldn't contact Peacemillion...they weren't responding. We didn't want to move you, so we waited. Yesterday we went looking for Peacemillion to see why they weren't responding..."

Lucian looked at Kai again. He didn't want to tell Dac something...but Kai continued for him. "All we found was debris. Peacemillion is gone..."

Dacota was silent.

"It must have been Omlan..." Lucian looked at the floor.

"Howard? ...and Nadia? And the crew?" Dacota's eyes had a distant look in them.

"Gone." Lu's gaze remained down.

Dacota laid back down again. His eyes focused on the white squares on the ceiling. _They're gone...everything's gone..._

Lucian and Kai nodded at each other. Dacota needed time alone. Slowly, everyone left the room ...and Dacota was left alone...staring at the ceiling with a far away gaze.

The table was very silent. Lucian, Kai, Dorje and Aramith sat in pairs...eating their food while facing each other. It had been almost a full eight hours since Dacota had woke up, and he hadn't left his room in the sick bay even once. Dac had refused everything but warm water to drink, and a second small cup of soup. All four young men were very surprised when the door to the small private room slid back with a *whirrr* noise and Dacota stepped in wearing a tight fitting set of cloths that Dorje had been kind enough to leave on the dresser in Dacs room. He took a seat at the end of the table, isolating himself away from the group of four.

"Welcome to the land of the living." Lu said quietly. "These are the guys who helped us save your butt..." He motioned first to the blonde haired blue eyed stranger with a build only slightly smaller than Dacs. "That's Aramith.." Aramith nodded in agreement. "And the other one there is our host, Dorje." He motioned towards the dark haired stranger with green eyes.

Dacota looked up to make eye contacted with Aramith, and then Dorje. The look in his eyes was unsettling. "Thank you."

Lu was surprised. It was the first time he had heard Dac thank anyone.

"Your welcome." Dorje said quietly. "Your mobile suit hit the water incredibly hard...so hard, it ruptured the hull in over ten places allowing it to flood. There's a lot of body damage, and nearly all the electronics were ruined by the salt water. It'll take a while to repair it, but we'll help as much as we can."

Dorje stood and turned to a small comm speaker on the wall. Pressing the button, he spoke. "Our frozen friend is awake...could somebody bring him some food?"

Moments later, the woman with the cart entered...with a tray full of food. She sat it in front of Dacota and smiled. Dac remained expressionless. He looked up at her and nodded. She left, and the silence returned once again.

Dacota stared at his food, his hands underneath the table. His eyes still had that glossy far away look in them. A small TV was in the corner of the room near the ceiling...a news man was talking.

" ...Today OMLAN leader Kimo Lolakhan prepares to speak before the World Counsel of leaders at the Odessa waterfront base in Ukraine. Although the purpose of his address has been kept a mystery, Kimo has released to the press that 'World Peace has never been so close'.......In other news, a junk freighter reportedly exploded from engine malfunction near the dark side of the Moon last Tuesday. Officials from the Omlan Lunar Base report that Omlan clean-up crews are busy cleaning up the millions of tons of junk metal and various other debris which the freighter had been collecting from space to be dumped in a moon-landfill. Records show that the only casualties were the pilot and the small crew of ten that operated the equipment on the junk freighter. Our prayers go out to the families of the deceased..."

For the first time in his life, tears welled in Dacota's eyes. He squeezed them shut tightly to keep the tears from rolling down his cheek. _Peacemillion had a crew of over 700 ...and they're all dead.....Howard....and Nadia...._

He slammed his fist hard onto the table, making everyone's food trays jump. Lucian's cup of ginger ale spilt over the edge of the table.

"Ahhh, man...." Lu looked at Dacota. "What's wrong with you!? After everything that's happened, you still don't understand do you!?"

Dacota's eyes slowly opened and lifted to look directly into Lu's. "Understand what?" His tone was soft, but something in his eyes suggested different.

Lu just stared back him, and shook his head.

Dacota's chair suddenly went flying backwards as he stood and lunged at Lu, grasping him firmly by the throat and lifting him backwards tipping Lu's chair over and slamming the youth against the wall with a loud, hollow thud. His grasp constricted, taking away Lu's breath easily. Dacota was far stronger than Lu would have predicted.

"UNDERSTAND WHAT!?" Dacota screamed in his face. "That life isn't fair? That the people we love will fucking DIE and we are POWERLESS to stop it!? That our lives will be FUCKED over for no damn reason!? That everyone and everything we care about really means NOTHING in the end? WHAT LU? WHAT THE FUCK DON'T I UNDERSTAND!?"

Dacota's hand slowly released, letting Lucian have some air while still holding him firmly against the wall. Lu coughed twice, and then took a deep breath. His voice was a hiss. "That life is too short not to live it right."

Dacota's face twisted into a vision of hatred. He squeezed down on Lu's throat again. "I could kill you RIGHT FUCKING NOW! Have you lived your life right!? Are you satisfied with what you've done!? Could you die happy right here, right now!?"

A wave of weakness swept over Dac and his grip released completely as he stumbled back, nearly falling on the table. Lu slumped to the floor, clutching his throat where Dacota had been squeezing. There would definitely be bruises.

"I watched my family die..." Lucian coughed out, still gasping for air. "...if you think your the only one who's lost something close to you, you're wrong...."

"At least you were there! You could have protected your family! What could I do!?" Dacota yelled from where he was bracing himself against a chair. His brush with death appearently took more from him that he thought.

"I was helpless! There was nothing I could do!" Lu yelled back. "And if you had been at Peacemillion, you'd probably be dead too!"

"At least I would know that I did everything I could." Dacota said softly, looking as if he regretted not being there to die. "My choices are clear..." He left the room and the door closed behind him.

Lucian stood slowly, picked up his chair and sat back down. "I'm sorry you had to see that..." He apologized to the group. "Dacota has problems...and it's obvious he needs to find the answers himself."

The silence at the table was incredible. After that horrible display, nobody knew quite what to say. Finally, Kai spoke up.

"I've been thinking." He tapped a finger slowly on the table. "What do you think he meant by 'my choices are clear' ?"

Lucian shook his head. "Dacota is a hard person to figure...he's complicated. Who knows what he meant..."

The silence continued. Five minutes passed...and soon it was ten.

Aramith shook his head. "I don't know about you guys, but I have a feeling he's gonna do something stupid..."

Dorje looked up. "Like what?"

Aramith shook his head again....but the question was answered moments later as a small explosion shook the entire complex.

"What was THAT?" Lucian looked around as if the room might collapse on them.

"I don't know...but I'm gonna find out." Dorje ran out of the room, followed by the others, heading towards the most logical place to start...the mobile suit hangar.

They didn't get far before being confronted by a communication technician. "Master Dorje! I was sent to find you ...your friend.."

"...oh god...what did he do?" Dorje prepared for the worst.

"Well, it was strange..." He took a moment to catch his breath. "He looked at his mobile suit for a moment...we told him it wouldn't fly, but he tried to make it run anyway. After finding out for himself that it was too damaged to operate, he climbed into the IceLancer."

"WHAT!?" Lucian almost choked.

"He asked for us to give him clearance to leave, and open the airlock ....of course, we refused. We weren't sure if he had permission to fly that mobile suit." The technician shook his head. "After that, he climbed into his mobile suit again ..he was in there for a few minutes, and then climbed back out. He climbed back into his suit. He opened communications again, and said 'I'll ask you one last time for clearance, will you please open the airlock.' We said no again, and he just grinned....he closed communications, and a second later BOOM ...his mobile suit exploded."

"He self destructed the Devils Cause!?" Lucian's jaw dropped. "Where is he now?"

"We don't know. The explosion didn't damage anything except the mobile suit hanger...it blew out part of the wall that the Gundam was braced against, and dropped out the bottom out of the entire room. It flooded with water, and he left through the open floor." The technician looked ill. "The last reading we got from the IceLancer was heading inland...towards Greece."

"Greece..." Kai thought for a moment. "He must be heading for the Black Sea ...Odessa is on the Black Sea, and Kimo is at Odessa..."

"Lets go after him! I want my mobile suit back, damnit!" Lucian said, moving towards the mobile suit hanger.

"Sorry, but you can't go...not for a while." The technician sighed. "Here is the really bad news. When the young pilots mobile suit exploded and the bottom of the hanger dropped out, all the mobile suits we had sank to the bottom of the ocean. The Dark Angel, ArachnisBlade, Artemis and all the other mobile suits we had on hand are sitting on the ocean floor with the remains of the Devils Cause. We don't think the other mobile suits received any damage, but that's not the problem....we can't get them. If someone swims out there and opens the cockpits to the mobile suits, they'll flood and all the vital electronics in the cockpit will be ruined just like the Devils Cause's were."

"So what can we do?" Dorje muttered as he crossed his arms.

"We'll need to send out some submersibles...attach to the mobile suits, and pull them to the empty hanger on the OTHER side of Atlantas02. Once we get them there we can get them in the airlock, and then get some pilots in them. But until then, it doesn't look like you'll be leaving." The technician placed his fingers on the bridge of his nose and rubbed it with worry.

"How long will it take?" Aramith asked, annoyed at the whole situation.

"Two days. Twenty-four hours if we work without stopping." The technician looked at Dorje.

"Then lets get working."

**Authors Note: If you are wondering where Odessa is, a GREAT map that can zoom in nice and close to any place on the world can be found here "http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/". Odessa is on the north east shore of the Black Sea in Ukraine.**

Concentration. Focus. FOCUS.

His head spun the more he tried to stop it. He needed sleep. He needed food. But he didn't want them. There was only one thing he wanted.

The Quadropillar engines of the IceLancer hummed quietly as they pushed the mobile suit through the dark murky water at full throttle. The underwater speed capabilties of the IceLancer surprised Dacota incredibly...he didn't expect such speed, but it would be beneficial. Speed would be important in the first part of his attack.

His eyes attentively watched his screens. Istanbul was coming up quickly. Once he crossed the land bridge there, he would be in the Black Sea ...and Odessa wasn't far then.

Dacota's vision blurred for what seemed to be the millionth time. He ignored it, and it went away again.

_Soon. _He thought. _Very soon._

"Brothers and Sisters of the world. When god created humans, he left out one very important detail. War. The human, as his nature goes, will fight to protect what is his. His land, his property, all that is rightfully owned by him. Why? Because we are afraid of losing what we have worked so hard to achieve to somebody who simply comes along and TAKES it for themselves." Kimo paused from his introduction. "Wars are fought because we do not see that perfection comes when all are equal. God did not take into consideration that we would fight amongst ourselves, that we would quarrel over simple things like land and possessions. That is why we must overcome his mistakes. Peace can come only after we have all realized that unity, not fighting, is the only thing that can bring us to equality."

Kimo's powerful speech reached the ears of over 2000 influential world leaders. And almost all of them bought into it right away. So simple. So easy. Kimo had outdone himself. As his words of peace and equality through unity and understanding rolled off his tongue as smooth as silk, he inwardly smiled to himself. He finished his speech, and immediately the crowd went insane...clapping and cheering. He had won them over...the majority anyway. They would agree that uniting with Omlan under one ruling is the true way to peace... and those who didn't agree would be crushed.

_Fools...there is no equality. There are only the weak and the strong. Power is only for the strong. God never intended the weak to rule, which is why the strong prevail. And wars are fought between the powers of the world to establish dominance. Like wolves in a pack. What none of them understand is that eventually the strongest of the pack will be chosen to lead. _Kimo grinned wide as he began walking away from the podium. _And I will be that leader._

Kimo stopped where he was. He felt the ground move slightly. He turned to face the Black Sea, looking out across the water. _So soon. Incredible. I would have never predicted._

Moments later the waters surface exploded upward as a giant blue and gold metallic object broke the surface. The gundam flew up into the air and then dropped, landing in a crouched position on the beach. The eyes had a soft glow to them. It slammed the blunt end of it's weapon hard into the ground as the thermo-lance ignited on the other end.

Dacota smiled. It was finally time. He opened every line of audio communication, including the external loud speakers. "Kimo Lolakhan! Show yourself! I've come for you!"

Kimo was nearly trampled by Koa. "Kimo...did you hear that?"

"Yes ...a formal challenge." Kimo smiled slightly

"I'll send out a some Scorpio suits to hold him off while you escape." Koa motioned at a waiting transport.

"No." Kimo's face was hard. "Send out a few Scorpio's...but only as a warm up. He has balls of steel to be challenging me. Especially so soon after we destroyed Peacemillion."

"So you dont think it's Lucian Dysvek?" Koa seemed confused. "We have a positive identification on the IceLancer..."

"No. It's not Dysvek. It's definately him."

"Him?" Koa blinked. "Do you have any plans? He's shown abilties true to his construction...forty Halo suits with first class pilots all by himself withonly minimal help from an unexperienced Dysvek...Eji is in Germany on standby to come here in the Deaths Head if it becomes necessary. Are you sure you dont want him to take care of him?"

"No. He has balls of steel." Kimo turned to his friend. "And it's time for castration."

Dacota waited in silence. After the large crowd before him had evacuated, everything seemed to go deathly still. The water was calm and smooth, like glass. A minute passed...it seemed like an hour. Four gaurd suits, the Scorpio class, came out from where they must have been hiding. The short squaty black and yellow stripped suits were armed with only small blaster rifles...with no flying capabilties. Their armor, however, was incredibly thick.

_Gaurd suits....you disappoint me Kimo. _Dacota didn't wait for them to attack. The thermo weapon of the Gundams lance struck the first of the suits in the mid-section, slicing through it in a way Dacota never thought possible. The extreme cold from the weapon seemed to just ...freeze through the metal....but how was THAT possible? He didn't really care, and didn't have the time...

The second fell to a similar fate, but the third and fourth moved away and started firing. The IceLancers sheild appeared in a small blue glow around the mobile suit as the shots struck it and faded. The IceLancer lunged at the third suit, smashing it's weapon down through the head of the enemy. The lance spun above the head of the IceLancer for a moment before crashing down onto the fourth (who had managed to get a few insignificant shots off into the back of the IceLancers armor).

IceLancers radar systems suddenly went crazy. Dacota put up the sheilds in reflex just in time to stop a pair of missles from slamming into his back. He spun the mobile suit to see a Gundam....black, yellow trim, green eyes...and a large sword.

"Kimo." Dacota opened the comm waves again. "You came."

"I would never turn down a formal challenge." Kimo sneered. "So what, exactly, have you come for?"

The two mobile suits squared off. Facing each other at about 1500 feet apart.

"To see you die." Dacota grit his teeth.

Kimo laughed. "I'm here. Take my life if you can."

IceLancer jumped. It flew gently through the air to quicklyclose the distance and bring it's weapon down on Malice's head...the lance met with Malice's Plasteel sword, stopping it. Dacota grinned as Malice slowly pushed back from the IceLancer. His suit was stronger.

Slipping easily under the lance, Malice quickly did a side step to it's left, spinning to slam it's sword into IceLancers mid-section ...but it was stopped with the blunt end of the lance. Kimo was faster. Considerably faster.

_Come on ..._ Dacota grit his teeth as sweat rolled down his forehead. He would not lose today. He COULDN'T lose.

Both suits jumped backwards, and then dashed at each other slamming their weapons together with a large spark. Both suits pulled their weapons away and slammed them together again. Malice began losing ground again. IceLancer stepped forward and pushed downward, forcing the Malice to fall backwards into a large building of the huge Odessa base. Dacota brought his weapon down, but connected with only the ground as Malice had rolled away ...destroying more of the building.

Malice was behind him then, swinging the sword downward hard...Dacota blocked it just in time, and went to counter ....another near miss.

The two Gundams were in heated battle, swinging their weapons with incredible skill ...but neither winning or losing.

Neither of them seemed to notice that they were trashing the Odessa base. Buildings crumbled from missed blows left and right. And in a blink of an eye, they were in another part of the base. Destroying everything in their attempts to destroy one another.

Dacota's head started hurting again ...and then the blurring came. _Not now! goddamnit...._ A wave of sickness came over him, and he fumbled at his controls for a moment....but a moment was all Kimo needed. The elbow of Malice slammed into IceLancer and it stumbled backwards. Dacota was in control again a second later and moved to block another blow from Kimo's sword. His vision still wasn't clear though...he was seeing incredible tracers...

_Focus ....FOCUS..._ Dacota closed his eyes as he held Malice's weapon away from IceLancer with the lance. Dac pushed Kimo's weapon away, and attempted to duck away ...no luck. Kimo's weapon struck the side of IceLancer. It dug into the mobile suits hip and grinded to a stop. The IceLancer fell into Malice, and not knowing what else to do Dacota quickly wrapped IceLancers arms around Malice's arms and body...locking the hands behind Malice's back.

_It's over...I've lost ...._ Dacota closed his eyes and punched the control board infront of him. The IceLancer, not beingable to support it's own weight anymore, leaned almost all it's weight into Malice. Malice toppled backwards...being much lighter than IceLancer, the immobilized IceLancer pinned it to the ground.

Dacota punched the control board again. _Only one way this can end...and in that case, I'm taking him with me..._ He ripped the panel infront of him off the control board, and pulled up the wires for the Self Destruct mechanism.

Kimo realized his intentions all too soon and reopened the audio comm lines. "You wouldn't do something so cowardly, would you? Are you truely that desperate to win?"

Dacota stalled. _Cowardly...he can't talk._ Dac opened his comm lines as well. His decision had been made. "I consider killing nearly one thousand innocent civilans aboard Peacemillion cowardly...and I would do ANYTHING to destroy you."

He set the wires in place, and started the timer...15 seconds...he quickly moved to open the cockpit. He wouldn't die if he coudl help it.

15...

The door was jammed against Kimo's mobile suit. _Damnit!_ A small crack was all he had.

14...

He pushed himself into the crack, trying to fit through...

13...12...11...10...9...

_Come on, come on..._

8...

He felt his ribs breaking with the effort.

7...

His upper body was through...

6...

Just a little more....

5....

FREE! He ran as hard as he could, ignoring the pain in his chest. His weakness came back to him, but he kept running...

An explosion. The IceLancer shone brightly for a second before *BOOM* ...everything went white...

Dacota felt hot intense burning pain in his back as he flew foreward from the blast...everything was so bright....so bright...

He never felt himself hit the ground. He had already blacked out.

***

". . . fuck. . .I can't believe he did that. . . . ." Lucian mumbled to himself. "What a selfish thing to do. . .. GODDAMNIT! I have no Idea what he's doing with my IceLancer! I spent a year and a half just BUILDING that goddamned thing!" He paced the rather large office that had once belonged to Dorje's mother, then stopped in front of the desk and stared into the family pictures.

**__**"Don't worry." Kai replied. "I bet he's just doing a round about to clear his head, god knows everyone likes to go for walks to calm down."

"I hope you're right," Dorje added, his head bowed. "At least for Lucian's sake I hope that's what he's doing. But what He's done to Atlantis02 is a completely different story. At least Atlantis02 can be repaired."

After a few minutes of silence, Aramith stood up and walked to the airtight wall like window and looked into the depths of the ocean where the Gundams had sunk. "I don't know why you guys are attached to those machines. . ." He watched as two submersibles slowly faded into the depths to search for the lost Mobile suits. "What's two days without them? Just means you get to lie down and relax for a while. . ."

"Relax my ass. . ." Lucian mumbled to himself. "I won't be able to calm down until he gets his scrawny butt back here. . ." He eyed each picture for a second before moving on to another, Most of Dorje as a small boy with his Mother or someone else.

"I'm sorry about that, Lu, but you'll have to wait to find out where this cobweb walkway leads." Aramith replied, his eyes still transfixed upon the depths.

Kai and Dorje eyed their drinks as another bout of silence enveloped the two. Somewhere from the compound, the longing sound of a violin pierced the silent room, adding to the dreary scene.

Lucian changed his focus to one large group photo of about 120+ people, obviously from a family reunion. Something seemed dreadfully familiar to him; the people most of all. "Uh, Dorje. . .this your family?" He asked, holding up the picture by the frame.

"Yes, That picture was taken when I was only nine at the 150th family reunion, that was about six years ago. . ." He smiled. "I'm the small kid in the center."

"Ah, I can see that. . ." Lu returned the smile and went back to looking at the picture. He then pointed to a rather chubby female in a white pink polka dotted dress. "And this is your Aunt Marharet."

Dorje thinned his eyes slightly then nodded. ". . ..yes. . .that is. .."

Lucian then began to list them off one by one, to each Dorje would nod. Finally Dorje stopped him . "Okay, either you've done extensive research on me for some odd reason or you're a talented psychic. . .How do you know all of this?" Dorje folded his arms and waited for Lucian to answer.

With one last look at the picture, Lucian walked over to Dorje andheld up the picture to his face, pointing to one child near the left bottom. "See that kid? Who is he?"

"That's my cousin, Mikhael . . .well at least that's what I always heard him being called by. . . I think it was his middle name." Dorje replied. "But what does this have to do with my question?"

Aramith returned from his glare at the depths and fixed it upon Lucian. "Why don't you answer him instead of avaiding the question?"

Lucian sneered slightly at Aramith, then turned back to Dorje. "Well, if you'd take a close look, you'd see that Mikhael is me, Dorje."

Dorje's eyes widened slightly, then he grabbed the photo from Lucian and started to compare it. "How can that be?! Mikhael was 12 when this picture was taken! You're fourteen and this pictures six years old. . . You'd have to be 18 then!"

Kai spit out some of his soda that he had been drinking and it spattered all over the floor. "Eighteen?!? I thought you were 14, Lu! You even told me that! Why'd you lie to us?!"

Lucian looked to everyone then held his head up, "Yes, I'm 18 by the earth standard calander, but Russia's still going by the old chart, Truly, I'm fourteen by their standards. I didn't lie. . . I never lie. . ."

"I still consider that a sort of lying. . ." Kai smirked. "But at least you're on our side, and that's all that really matters."

"Well does anyone know what side we're on anyways? I mean how are we supposed to know what OMLAN'strue position is. For all we know it could be that they desire to bring peace to all the nations, and all you guys are doing is sighting rebellion against them." Aramith replied. "Hell, I'm not taking any sides, I'm not really a pilot anyways, just got marooned out here with that stupid mobile suit that sunk out there. . ."

"Nice to see someones thinking for a change, unlike some people who reacted on a slights notice. . ." Lucian huffed. He then leaned against the wall and lowered his head. _Now that I know my cousin is in possession of one of the Gundams, this changes everything. . . I can't do anything to harm someone from my own family. That's against my own philosophy. . ._

Another bout of silence enveloped the group and once again the sound of the violin droned through the room.`

Kai was the one to break the silence this time, he drummed his fingers upon the arm of his wheelchair. "I wonder what Dacota's going to do, He's headed towards Odessa after all. . . What is he planning?"

"I heard it was Some diplomatic function." Dorje replied. "They have members from all of the separated world nations there, we have a few too. . .It should be televised."

"If it's being televised then we should watch it, to at least get a sense of what's to come, even if that's all we get to see." Aramith added.

"Yeah, you're right Aramith. . ." Lucian mumbled. "And if Dacota does do something there, it will be for us to watch. . ."

"There's a television in here." Dorje said.He walked over to the wall and pressed a hidden button. The wall slid clear to reveal a rather large screen and remote, which Dorje picked up and pressed the on button. The Screen hissed to life and immediately snapped to a cartoon channel. Dorje chuckled nervously then quickly changed the channel. "I usually watch my anime in here. . .." He said nervously. With a few clicks of the remote, they arrived at the right channel. "Is this it?" Dorje asked.

"Yes. That's Kimo alright. . ." Lucian replied. He took a chair and pulled it closer to the screen to watch. It was a speech alright, and it sounded like it was wrapping up. "He's formidable. . ." Lucian mumbled to himself. "He's not that dumb, he knows how to influence a crowd. . ."

The crowd cheered madly as Kimo stopped talking and took in the applause.

"If that were true, I'd be there rooting with those people. . ." Dorje shook his head, "But for some odd reason, I don't believe a word he's saying. . ."

"I don't believe him either. . ." Aramith grinned slightly. "I don't know why they do, but this is all just a giant crock of shit if you ask me. . ."

"Yeah, in all those words." Kai laughed sourly. "Why do they all applaud him? Don't they see how evil he is?"

The camera then did a quick pan of the water surrounding the outdoor Auditorium where the meeting was being held. Lucians eyes lit up instantly. "Shit. . .Dorje, does this thing have an auto rewind?"

"Yeah, It does." Dorje replied. "You see something?"

"I thought I did, could you rewind it about 30 seconds, to the shot of the waterway? Then Pause it. . ."

Dorje did just that and stopped it. Lucian got up from his seat and investigated the image for a second, then pointed to a dark area far out in the water. "See this? That isn't a shallow area, that's a Mobile suit. Look at the shape. . ." He carefully pointed out the distinct shortlegs, as it was headfirst towards the surface, the arms andarmor, and some wings.

"What the hell is that? A Halo suit?" Kai asked.

"No, It's nowhere near a halo, those wings aren't the right shape. . ." He took a second and looked it over again. A sudden epiphany hit him "SHIT! IT'S THE ICELANCER!!! I'd know that shape anywhere!!! Quick! Get it up to speed!"

"Oh my . . . Damned Dacota. . ." Kai shook his head. "What's he going to do? I hope it's not anything rash. .."

"With Dacota, Everything is rash. . ." Lucian replied, his teeth clenched. "We just have to see what card he plays. . ."

The Image soon returned tothe now, and the applause was just falling silent. The three pilots watched in silence as the Icelancer suddenly broke the surface and made contact with the ground, the Neo-thermal lance igniting as its blunt end smacked into the ground.

"SHIT! He's actually doing it!" Lucian yelled.His hand firmly grasped the forearm of his opposite arm, squeezing it slightly in anger. "He's gonna challenge Kimo in my Icelancer!!!"

"Calm down, Lucian. . ." Dorje replied."There's nothing you can do about it. . ."

"LIKE HELL THERE ISN'T!!" Lucian screamed. His hands were shaking, he could feel it, the dread that he couldn't do anything as he watched a whole year and a half of his life seeming to fade away into nothing. "If. . .if. . .if.. ..If he does anything to the Icelancer, I swear he will . . . . .He will. . .." He couldn't even speak anymore. All the love he had for his parents he had put into that mobile suit. To him it was his family, and like family, he felt an obligation to protect it. No friendor cousin alike could understand the reasons for his behavior at that moment. He was at the brink of insanity itself.He clenched his teeth tighter and balled up his fist, lowering his face so that his long hair hid the majority. Two solitary tears rolled down his cheek an flit to the floor.

"What the. . ..What's wrong, Lu?" Aramith noticed the tears careen to the floor.

Dorje and Kai, in the middle of watching both Lucian and the fight now engaged on screen couldn't help but stare, one in its own time.

"What do you mean WHAT'S WRONG?!?!" Lucian hollered back. He lifted his face revealing his rather scared and red eyes. "I'M ABOUT TO LOOSE MY PARENTS AGAIN!!! WHAT ELSE COULD BE WRONG?!?!!?" He laughed nervously as three more tears rolled down his chin and plopped onto his shirt.

"Loose your parents again? How?" Kai was obviously confused.

"When I was constructing the Icelancer, I took two hollowed out cylinders and installed them behind the pilots seat, engraved with my parents names. . . I PUT THEIR FUCKING ASHES INTO THEM AND WELDED A FUCKING LID ON TOP!!!!" More tears flowed down Lucian's face.

"Oh my. . ." Dorje put his hand over his mouth in surprise. "You mean. . . . .Oh god, I'm sorry, Lucian. . ."

"YOU'RE SORRY?!?!? YOU'RE NOT SORRY!!!" Lucian screamed in a rage at Dorje. "YOUR PEOPLE DID NOTHING TO STOP HIM!!!"

Suddenly the sound of the battle from the Television died down as the camera focused on the two now interlocked Gundams.

"What are they doing?" Aramith asked, watching the weird battle go nowhere.

"He's going to self destruct. . ." Kai mumbled without thinking.

Suddenly a bright flash enveloped the television and the whole screen went white. Lucian's eyes widened in horror as he watched the Icelancer fall into unrecognizable and unsalvageable parts. It was as if he wasreliving the murder of his parents again. _That wasn't the plan. . . ._ He thought to himself_ . . . .I was meant to die with my parents. To be with them once again. . . .But now that's all gone. I no longer have a reason to fight. . .Some friend. . .he steals your life and takes it for his own. . .I hope my parents would forgive me for not coming to them. . .I died long ago in Russia those five years ago, when the Vflav forces instigated violence against my parents for being dignitaries in OMLAN. . . They held me and made me watch as they killed them slowly, Forcing poison down their throats and slowly draining the blood from their bodies. And they watched me watch them, gagged and bound to a chair in such a way that I couldn't turn away. . .They had cried, I could see the hurt in their eyes. . .They didn't want me to watch, they pleaded for the Vflav minister to turn my eyes away, even though they were hurting extremely internally. . .They were then gagged with a long white cloth, and I watched as their tears stained the fabric. . .I watched them and they watched me. . . never taking our eyes off of one another until the bitter end when they took their last breath. . .By that time the white cloth that had covered their mouths was completely soaked red with the blood that the poison forced into their lungs. . . .and I had long since lost the ability to cry, my clothes and the gag in my mouth completely drenched in the saltine liquid. . .I could taste it, much like blood, without the coppery taste. . .The OMLAN forces had come too late, they managed to catch all the Vflav members for trial on crimes against the establishment. . .They had freed me, though I no longer felt the will to live. . .I wanted to be dead with my parents, to never leave their side. . .That night, in a ceremony, the officials of OMLAN cremated my parents and entrusted me with their Urns. . .I was officially in their custody. . .and there I stayed, I learned from them, and they taught me and kept me safe. . .It didn't take me long to be accepted into the Special forces unit, and then after that to the Gundam Development staff, where I quickly fell under the wing of Doc Winstrom . . .I may have been a complete klutz, but I knew my place and I followed my orders. . .I even had recommendations going for me in high places before that asshole Dacota popped out of the sky and literally kidnapped me. . .Hell, he was friendly enough, and I got word to act undercover, before my comm. completely quit out on me. . .Never again will I trust one man, no friend. . . they don't deserve my accord or friendship, they all turn on you in the end. . .they ruin your life. . . I'm going to go back. . .That's the only solution, I have to go back to OMLAN. . .At least there they appreciate me and care for me. . . I'll show these pilots, I'll show anyone with a Gundam. . .I am not one to be trifled with. . .I will not show them mercy. . .they're the killers of my parents. . .they shall pay. . ._ Another bright flash from the television snapped Lucian out of his trance.What remained was a bunch of scrap parts from the Icelancer, Lucian may have been a fool when it came to wiring the core, but he was certified in demolition. . .the self destruct mechanism triggered a reaction that completely shattered every important component in the hull, from the smallest switches to the largest trancievers, to the core itself and the cockpit. The Malice wasn't all that damaged, A dislocated arm joint and sheered off armor layed on the ground along with theparts of the Icelancer, but it was still almost completely intact . . .

Lucian laughed to himself as he stared emptily at the screen, not even noticing the others inching closer

"Eh, Lu. . .you alright?" Dorje asked.

"Hey, snap out of it, Lucian. . .You're starting to freak me out. . ." Kai added.

"Anybody home?" Aramith said, he waved his hand in front of Lucians eyes, not exacting any type of response.

Dorje sighed and reached out to put his hand on Lucians shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Lucian. . .I can't believe he did that. . .it must feel terrible. . ." Suddenly Lucian grabbed his wrist and spun Dorje around, Wrapping his other arm around Dorje's neck in a tight choke hold. He quickly turned his back to the wall to face Aramith and Kai, laughing absurdly.

"You can't begin to imagine how it feels, cousin. . ." Lucian hissed, tightening his grip upon Dorje's neck.

Dorje's face began to turn a light shade of red. "Bu. . .bu. . .But Lucian. . ." He dug his fingers into Lucians arm, trying to pull it away.

"Jeez man, calm down and let him go!" Aramith yelled.

"What are you trying to do?! Kill him?!" Kai added.

Dorje panted, breathing was becoming hard and rather laboring "Lu. . .Lucian. . .Pu. . .please let. . . .muh. . . me go!" His face began to turn a shade of bright red.

Another tear found its way down Lucians chin and fell right on Dorje's forehead. "I'm going to end this whole thing. . .this fight that he started. . .." Lucian said, his voice wavering from trying to hold back sobs."And the only way I can do that is to kill those who are taking part. . .OMLAN was fine before the gundams. . .it was DACOTA that screwed it all up. . . it was he who initiated this battle. . ."

"Hey. . . Dorje and I haven't done a thing, Lucian. . ." Aramith said sternly. "We haven't fought in one battle, let alone do we have a will to even fight at all. . ."

"Your possession of a Gundam is your deathwarrant. .." Lucian mumbled. After a few seconds he released Dorje and threw him to the ground, where he tried to catch his breath. Lucian shook his head to try to clear it, then closed his eyes tightly. "Please, if you value your life. . .stay away from me for a while. . .I'm freaking out. . .I don't know what I'd do if you come near me. . ." He slowly backed away to the door, the hairtie that once held his hair up neatly fell away and his long Auburn hair cascaded around his shoulders. "I need to get out of here . . . I don't want to hurt any of you, but I might if I stay. . .And please try to keep away from Dacota . . . He'll be paying for this. . .this. . .thisthing he's done to me. . ."

"Lucian. . . ." Dorje panted, his hand over his throat.

Lucian opened his eyes slightly and looked to the three longingly, then turned and ran through the door. Out of his shirt, half untucked from the struggle, clambered the dog tags that had lied next to his chest. The three watched as he rounded a corner anddisappeared. Kai was the first to reach the metal chain that had fallen to the ground, it's flat, rounded rectangle shape showed all of the information needed to identify him, though one part caught their fancy.

"Hey guys, these tags. . .These are the Special Forces tags. . ." Kai said as he looked them over.

"What do you mean special forces?" Dorje asked as he got up off of the ground, still rubbing his sore neck.

"Huh? You mean OMLAN Special Forces?" Aramith added.

"Yeah. . . .Strange. . ." Kai replied. He looked them over again. "Why would Lucian have Special Force tags?"

***

"This place has to have more then one hangar bay. . .stupid people . . ." Lucian mumbled as he stumbled down hallways and corridors. It didn't take him long to find one more, the Maintenance departments separate hangar full of Delphinus Repair suits. "Stupid unarmored, unarmed pieces of shit . . ." He said to himself as he walked through, Looking through the suits one by one. . . In the back, though was a brand new model suit. "Now that's what I was looking for. . ." Lucian said to himself. The dark blue hull of the Cetus Armored Recovery suit was meant for camoflage while in the water, It was also minimally armed with twin Vulcan cannons and a machine gun. It was also completely capable of leaving its parent waters, unlike the Delphinus Suit. "You're not my Icelancer, but you'll have to do. . ." He clambered into the suit and started up the systems. It was a dead boot, straight off the factory lines. "Jeez. . .new to anything, aren't ya? I'll take whatever risk I need to. . .I'm getting cranky. .." He maneuvered the suit out of its place against the wall and into the Loch doors. The door that had let him in slid shut behind him andslowly the room began to equalize by filling up with water. It took a whole three minutes, but by that time he was once again free floating in the blue waters outside of Atlantis 02

Lucian powered up the turbofan engine and started off towards Odessa. There he'd find his answers. . .

***

"Here,"Aramith pressed a cold pack against Dorje's abused throat, "this oughta help some."

Dorje smiled gratefully at Aramith and blushed softly as he accepted the soothing item.

"So…what're we gonna do now?"Kai crossed his arms and looked to the other boys.

"Fuck if I know."Aramith rubbed his eyes and leaned back on the couch."I guess we should just leave him be, at least for a while.If for nothing else, then for our own safety, you saw how freaked out he was."

All three boys sat in silence, mulling over the events occurring in the past few hours.Aramith was staring out of the window, absently stroking the fur of his cat.Kai was picking at one of his chair's wheels.Dorje was staring at the television screen, flipping channels mindlessly.Every now and then a large fish would swim past the room, and out in the hallway laughter and everyday chat from various inhabitants of Altantis02 filtered in.

His fingers having grown quite numb, and the icepack beginning to melt quite a bit,Dorje carefully pulled it from his neck and dropped it onto the floor.Sighing, he stood and walked over to the window, getting close enough to use it as a mirror to examine his throat.The flesh was still reddened, and would most likely turn to motleyshades of purple, blue, green, and brown within the hour.

"How's it look?"

"Mmm?"Dorje tilted slightly towards the sound of Aramith's voice."It could be worse.Don't ask me how I'm gonna explain this to anyone who sees it."

"You could blame it on a gorilla who escaped from the zoo."Kai offered.

Aramith and Dorje both turned towards him, blank looks on their faces.

Kai looked back and forth between the two."What?"

Dorje shook his head."Well, rampaging monkeys aside-"

"A gorrila's not a monkey, actually."Kai interjected.

Dorje screwed up his nose."Close enough, it's an ape isn't it?"

"Well, monkeys have tails,"Aramith supplied, "and gorillas and orangutans don't."

"Yeah, orangutans, those things make me crave Tang.Were those things ever sent into space?"

"Ok, ok!"Dorje waved his hands madly."Enough!Look, does anyone know what to do about Lucian?I mean he was really upset when he ran outta here, how're we to know he's not gonna do something rash like Dacota?"

Aramith blinked."Well, we don't.He could be doing any number of things right now."

Kai nodded."Not excluding dancing in the kitchen with a rubber glove on his head and proclaiming himself King of the Squid people."

Aramith and Dorje exchanged glances then looked at Kai as a young man burst into the room.

"Uhm….Sorry for the interruption Master Dorje, but we found this note in the hangar area a few minutes ago."The out of breath boy handed a slip of paper to Dorje and chewed his lip.

"Oh no.No, no, no, no, no, we don't need this."Dorje groaned and flopped back onto the couch.

Aramith knitted his brows together."What is it now?"

Dorje flipped the paper in the air tiredly, "Lucian's taken off in one of the recovery suits."

Aramith rolled his eyes."Oh that's fuckin' great.The fuck are we supposed to do now?"

"Uh…go after him?"Kai raised his brows questioningly.

"And do what?"Dorje sighed."Seriously, even if we could FIND him, which would be hard since he's in a camoflauged suit and there aren't homing devices on the recovery mechs, then what would we do?Go up to him and say 'Sorry, Lu, but we're gonna drag you back to Atlantis02 so you can get even more pissed off'?"

Aramith nodded."I gotta agree with Dor on this one.Well….sorta."He paused and looked to the ceiling as he thought for a moment."Ok, change of plans.I say we wait for the suits to be repaired, then head out to that place Dacota blew up.Chances are that if he's not just out blowing off some steam, than that's where he went."

"And once we get there we'll have the upperhand with the Gundam's if he freaks out again."Kai nodded."Ok, works for me.What do we do in the meantime?"

Aramith shrugged and smiled slightly."Sleep?Eat?I'm fuckin' famished, and I'm sure some lemon tea would help out Dor's throat some."

Dorje ventured a timid smile as the three boys exited the room."That does sound nice."

"Wait…" Kai said. He stopped wheeling himself after the other two. "I forgot about that. Okay, new plan for Lu."

"Lucian? We're still talking about him?" Aramith laughed, a tinge of nervousness in his voice. "I thought we were going after some lemon tea."

"Yes…" Dorje agreed.

"Ugh. While tea would be nice right about now, I have a responsibility."

"Since when did Lu become your responsibility?" Dorje muttered. "Besides, we've got to wait until our suits are repaired and whatnot." He and Aramith continued down the hall.

Kai laughed as Dorje and Aramith turned away.

"You guys don't know what you're missing." Kai said, popping a little signal caller out of his armrest. "Seriously."

"Give it a rest, Kai." Aramith said back to him.

"You don't get it, do you?" Kai retorted, depressing the small red rubber switch on the top of the signaler. It clicked, but nothing happened. "Lu just went nuts, and you're just gonna go drink tea?"

"What do you expect us to do without our Gundams?" Dorje snapped.

"You? I don't expect you to do anything." Suddenly, there was a great mass of white foam at the water's surface outside the window. As the tension on the waves broke, a massive metallic head, its eight iridescent green eyes shimmering, heralded the return of the ArachnisBlade.

"What the fuck?!" Aramith fumed.

"As for me, I'm going to help out my only friend since this whole debacle started. You follow me, and I swear to God that I'll kill you. Sorry, nothing personal, but this isn't general pilot business. G'day!" Kai laughed again as he wheeled himself onto the sea villa terrace.

"Ah, my wonderful Lost Cause. We'll show them OMLAN blokes that we ain't about to bow down to them, right?" He rested a hand on the dripping armor. "Oh well, up we go now!" He pressed another button, and the cockpit opened up with a rush of stale air. "Didn't I tell you I hated stale air?" He slammed his fist on the entryway as the crane arm mechanism lifted his chair into position. The door hissed shut, as the cabin pressurized to fit the current conditions.

"Alright, let's see… we'll air-dry it for now, since we have a rogue pilot to find. Hmm…" Kai tapped the command set into his board. "Alright, let's follow that Cetus suit! ArachnisBlade, ho!"

With a flash of green fire, the slender Gundam disappeared.

"Well I'll be a son of a bitch." One of the technicians commented.

***

Lu's eyes burned. They burned with the tears he had shed for losing the final chance to die with his parents. They burned with the hatred he felt towards Dacota and the other pilots. They burned with the fear that he now had of being alone. But mostly, they burned with vengeance.

"God damn him…" The only words that would escape his lips. Until, that is, the ArachnisBlade decloaked in front of him.

"HOLY SHIT!"

"Relax! Lu, it's me!" Kai's voice crackled through the speaker system.

"Get out of here, Kai, before I have to hurt you." Lu growled.

"Lu, I understand completely what you're going through. You're not the only one who's lost his parents." Kai said flatly.

"Kai, I'm warning you…"

"Lu! For chrissake, shut your damn pie hole and let me talk!" Kai yelled. "Can I speak my piece before you haul off and kill me?"

"…Make it short." Lu said without any emotion.

"Lu, do you know what it's like to be picked on your entire life for being different? For being the only one in the immediate area who was bound to a wheelchair? Not only that, but to have lived in this kind of an environment without parental guidance? You lost your parents, but you had others, and you weren't any worse for it on the outside. Me, I lost my father in the same attack I lost my legs in. My mother died a year after I found her again, supposedly suffering from a heart attack. Both times, I sat through their deaths, not able to do a thing."

"My father… he was a successful sheep rancher… until the forces rebellious to OMLAN attacked our farm. Although no one else saw it, he piloted an old Pisces suit in the battle… with OMLAN markings. One of the Minotaurs had brought down the barn he had sent us to hide in. My mother and sisters made it out, but I was caught under one of the shoring members… it had crushed my legs completely. And my father, to save me, self-detonated his Pisces, taking out all the Minotaurs. I wish he had let me die. I could be with him now. My mother, too. She had been issued some official OMLAN papers about some mission that I wasn't allowed to know about. Apparently, the OMLAN Tech branch in Chihuahua had given her some sort of horrible ultimatum - either hand me over for training as a pilot, or die. I came home later that same day, only to find her going into convulsions on her bed. My sister phoned the hospital, but I stayed with her. She never said anything, but in her eyes I knew that something had happened."

"The paramedics arrived too late - she had died. The official report said that she had died as cause of a heart attack. It wasn't, though - I know it."

"What are you trying to prove, Kai?" Lu growled, the impatience in his voice growing.

"I'm not trying to prove anything, Lu. What I'm trying to explain is that we're kindred spirits. We've both been fucked over by life. You're my friend, Lucian Dysvek. My only friend since I was five. I'm not going to let you throw your life away." Silence crossed the bandwidth, but Lu could detect Kai's smile. "Whether you like it or not, I'm coming with you."

"Kai, you don't know what you're doing. Don't you realize that I'm going to go join OMLAN?"

"Yeah. I have your Special Forces tags, if you need them."

"You… what?!"

"Hey, you think you're the only one who's ever been with OMLAN? I'm registered as a MS Tech Officer. They don't know it was me who took the Gundam, and they don't know that I blew up the Chihuahua base. Basically, I'm still a trusted OMLAN officer."

"You're kidding. You better be kidding."

"Sorry, Lu. As MS-Tech Officer Kayin Amoah, registration 055-74-GF92, I'm giving you two options: either you accept being recruited into the OMLAN MS Special Forces, or I will be forced to take you into custody, under MSP Law #45-0083-PIE. Do you understand?" Kai finished.

"Well… with an offer like that, how can I refuse?" Lu chortled.

***

"What are you going to do?" 

"What th' ell do you mean, what am I going to do?" Dorje rolled over onto his back and crossed his hands behind his head, blinking at the ceiling. 

"Well, what have we been talking about for the past ... oh... hour...?" His carefully groomed eyebrows raised a little. 

"Do you brush those things?" Aramith flopped down on his stomach, staring at Dorje's face. He rested his chin in his cupped hands. 

"Brush what things?" 

"Your fuckin' eyebrows." 

"Um... yeah... sometimes." The brunette looked up, as if trying to see his own eyebrows. "But anyway.." he focused on the ceiling fan "what I mean is, what are you going to do about Dakota and Artemis and all that?" He cast a glance at Aramith, catching a glimpse of lazy blue eyes and soft blonde hair before returning his gaze to the ceiling fan. "I mean, it isn't like... you can't just... I mean we all... I mean... oh geez. Never mind. Forget it." 

The Australian chuckled. "I think the more apt question is... what th'ell are YOU going to do about it?" 

"Huh? What do you mean?" 

"Well, I mean, with Lu being your fuckin' cousin and all..." 

"Hm." Dorje blinked his green eyes. "I really don't know. It's complicated, ke'chara." 

"Ke what?" A confused look rippled over Aramith's brow. 

The Greek boy gave a short laugh. "Gomen! Ke'chara... I read way to much Mercedes Lackey..." 

"Mercedes what?" 

"Ke'chara means... well, I don't really know what exactly it means, but it's something to do with dear friend or .... something... oh hell, I dunno." 

"What about a Mercedes? Do you have a CAR?" 

"Dear Lord, no!" Dorje laughed. "Mercedes Lackey wrote some of my favorite fantasy books." He pointed to a bookshelf that was stocked with books. "The second shelf." He watched as the blonde stood up and walked over to the shelf. _Aramith may not be the most graceful person alive, but he sure is one of the nicest. Not to mention damn sexy... Hm... and too bad Lu is my cousin, huh._ Dorje sighed suddenly, thinking of what had passed between himself and his new found cousin. _He practically killed me and I'm sitting here thinking how pretty he is. I really didn't mean it. I don't like people to be mad at me. And now, suddenly, Kai and Lu... _He sighed again and little tears collected in the corners of his eyes. 

Aramith pretended to look at the books. In all truth, he was mulling over the Lu and Kai situation. _How the hell did Kai get out of here in his gundam if they aren't repairable for so long? And why did he go like that? I mean... he and Lu can't have known each other for that long. Is the bond between us gundam pilots so strong?_ He frowned in concentration._ Goddammit, but that Dakota was such an ass! Especially with Lu's parents being sealed in there and all._ The blonde cast a glance in Dorje's direction. _Hm... and he didn't have to do that to the poor kid.._

Dorje sniffled a little and quietly wiped his eyes, fingering the already purpling bruises on his neck. "Hey, Dorje... d'you want some ice?" 

"Uh..." the Greek boy sort of stared at him for a minute before nodding slowly. "Yeah. Sure." 

The two pilots headed out of the room and down the wide, curving wooden stairs towards the kitchen. Dorje pointedly ignored the tall ceilings and plush furniture that graced the house. It wasn't something that he was especially proud of, and he certainly didn't want Aramith to think he was a "rich bitch." 

"What is your whole take on this damn situation?" The Australian, as well, was ignoring the rich surroundings. 

"Well..." The brunette thought for a minute, his bare feet slapping against the wood and his eyebrows rumpling a bit. "I want to help Lu. But I really really don't want to fight." He bit his lip. "Fighting just ends up with people getting killed." 

"The way of war is the way of-" 

"Ugly, irrational people." 

Aramith raised an eyebrow. "The fuck?" 

"Ano..." Dorje blushed. "It was in this 'Greek pride' type of book that I was reading." He walked over to the kitchen and pushed open the door. Two cooks were playing cards on a broad table and drinking half filled cans of Budweiser. "Hullo George, 'lyssa." 

"Hello, Master Dorje." George stood up, stretching. "What can I do for you and your little friend tonight?" 

Aramith inwardly snickered. Being taller and more muscular than the shorter brunette did not usually call for the title "little". He leaned back on the counter and watched as Dorje's bruises were attended to by the big red faced cook. 

"So... what are your takes on it all, Air? What are you going to do?" 

"I dunno. Maybe they can just duke it out and leave us to rule the fuckin' world." Aramith laughed a little. "Kind of like that old show Survivor, huh?" 

"Huh?" Dorje kindly pushed George away and started out of the kitchen, giving him a thank-you smile. He headed out towards the stairs for his room, the blonde tagging along. "Sorry, I don't watch much of the non anime old shows..." 

"Hn. Figured." The two of them were halfway up the stairs when they were halted by a shout from below. 

"DORJE! WE FOUND HIM!!!" Misha's heavy feet pounded up the stairs. 

"FOUND WHO?" Dorje shouted back down at him. 

"LUCIAN!" With a glance at each other, the two boys raced down the stairs to meet him. 

"Medi- medi... medi..." 

"Medicine?" 

"Medicare?" 

"Metamorphosis?" 

"Medi.. Mediterranian..." Misha panted. "Control room... go..." 

The pilots took off towards the control room, eager to see what was going on... 

***

Kimo sat in his office reading the days paper in disqust. So far no-one in the media had blamed him for what had happened at the world peace summit but some questions were begining to arise about the source of the large Mobile suit that had appeared outside of the building, intent on destoying the highly respected OMLAN leader. Noticing that he was biting his lip again Kimo forced himself to stop and take a walk around the large hotel where he and his staff were being put up for the week long political venture. 

No sooner had he gotten out of his officethats a young Sergeant run towards him, being almost dragged by a young man in civilian clothes

"Um..Im sorry sir..he busted in right past the guards..I told him that he needed an escort to be anywhere near the buiolding but Ane said it was Okay if I brought him up to see you Sir..very sorry Sir...should I have him removed from the Premisis Sir"?

Kimo cocked his head at the young man,He recognized the boy, panting from a long run up 30 flights of stairs as one of the renegade Gundam Pilots and smiled lightly "No..thats alright Sergent, He can come into my office and we can....talk"

"Very well sir..Um..thank you Sir"

The boy didnt say a word, just breezed past Kimo as he held the door open for him and sat down in the nearest available chair

Walking slowly across the room , Kimo sat in his large chair in the Bay window and stared directly into the young boys eyes. "My my young man, you've gone to quite an extreme to have words with me. What would be so important that you would risk your life to talk with someone you consider.....how did Dr. Howard say it? "Evil tyrant"?

The boys eyes flitted across the room, from the desk and back to Kimo "When did I say that, Sir"?

Touching his finger tips togehter and leaning back in his chair a smug smile creeped across Kimos face "I could only imagine you would feel as such after you helped my would-be assailant damage my favorite toy out in space not too long ago"

"No sir, It was part of my cover, I couldn't risk the exposure at that particular moment"

Catching himself chewing his lip again Kimo continued"Very well then.. Ill take your word for it now, but note that its only by my will that you survive this encounter.. I really don't need anymore aggressive setbacks. Trying to create a universe of peace is hard enough as it is".. 

"Yes sir"

"Would you like some wine.. perhaps a sandwich while you tell me why you've come"?  
"Yes sir, I haven't eaten since I left Atlantis02"

Kimo made a mental note about this Atlantis02 andlooked back to the boy "Very well then, Ill summon a maid, any preferences? the service here at the summit is really quite good..even for such a..simple establishment

"No preference, I'll eat just about anything".

"PB&J then..its always been my favorite.. So to dispence with the formalities and get right to buissiness, why have you come"?

"Yes sir . .. Well, as you've seen, The pilot of the 02 has completely destroyed my gundam, the IceLancer. He did more then that when he did, and as the plans detailed, and I bet you've seen so far, you'd know that he also intirely desecrated the memory of my parents. . . I want a chance to repay him for this occurance. . . Hence my return to OMLAN. . ."

"Hm....that truely is a sob story if Ive ever heard one, and even as we speak I have my associates rebuilding our suits as we speak..along with some minor upgrades courtesy of my friend Koa...however how can I trust you to continue piloting the suit. I understand that revenge is a powerful motivator, but it can also be a dangeous enemy if its givin the means to destroy entire cities" Standing from his seat Kimo thrust a finger out, pointing out the window and to the scene of carnage across the road where the explostion had occoured

"Of course I can be trusted, Sir. I wouldn't do anything against OMLAN unless it were directly ordered. The foundation was there when I was deeply in trouble, I owe OMLAN my life for that, and I won't forget it"

"That wasent My OMLAN though, then I was nothing more than a computer generated DNA model...to be quite honest OMLAN as we know it wont exist for very much longer once the new order has been established..the Gundams were meant as a poweful policing force, but now they are beginning to blemish my repuatation..Im afraid however we will need them again if my fears come true and my friends within the organization have differences of opinion"

"I'm loyal to the name, sir. I've also established friends within the Gundam pilots who I'm sure will side with whatever side I put myself to".

"Excellent then..I'll still be taking some safety precautions just in case..I know Koa is on my side...but I'm beginning to think that Ane desires a diffeent kind of peace...You understand that the 3 of us have no parents, no basis of morals or love outside of the love of fight and follow orders.An urge to do so for the creation of a perfect world. When I gained control of OMLAN I wanted to destroy all of the worlds armies, and replace them with geneticly borne soldiers, unfeeling, cold and unforgiving, the perfect resource for a world nation's policing force....However after some time passed I began to realize that I did'nt want to make more living beings whos entire purpose in life was to become a Harbinger of Death..Instead of a world order I wanted to help guide and if need be "persuade" the power nations of the world to come together and end the petty squabling that you humans have lived with for thousands of years. To have you Humans help yourselves into a peaceful universe. Ane however much I feel for her is becoming a dangerous person..she was bred as a tactician and sees that the easiest way to stop war is to simply start over again...destroy the human race and replace them with...monsters created the same way we were as impossible as it sounds it can be done with our technonogy..as of yet she has not done anything to damage my efforts..but I want to you help me keep an eye on her.."

"Yes sir"

"...Your now a member of OMLAN again, and being qualified to pilot a Gundam you can Call me Kimo...dont dissapoint me"

Kimo turned and began to walk out of the room when he bumped into the same Sergeant. After a quiet conversation Kimo poked his head back into his office where the Boy had begun to eat his lunch "Ive just been summoned to look to matters in outer space, feel free to look around and later you will be escorted to where we are working on the Gundams..and By the by..your name is?

"Lucian..Lucian Dysvek and Uhm. . .kimo. . .may I ask you one question before you leave"?  
"Certainly"

"Well. . .I was kind of wondering. . .I rigged the Icelancer to completely self detonate, leaving no remaining useable parts. . . .how is it then that you can rebuild it? I may have not had training in constrution of Mobile suits, but I was an expert in demolitions and explosive wirings". . ..

"You Can talk to Koa about that when you meet him, hes the one that originally designed the concept of the Gundam Mobile suits. As far as I can understand right now we're making copies of the existing internal pieces of my suit and Ejis Gundam along with some of the original plans to reconstruct the Icelancer as well as we can...it will take all 3 of the suits out of action for a small amount of time, but it should be good as new before long"

Lucian lowered his head slightly, speeking under his breath. "That doesn't make any sense. . . .the Icelancer, rebuilt?"

Kimo took one last look at Lucian, having heard every word the boy had whispered to himself. "Well..you can talk it over with Koa when you meet him..untill then I'm off, Till we meet again young sir"

***

After a good meal and a brisk walk around the hallways Lucian was escorted by two OMLAN guards who took him to a truck with dark tinted windows. After a short twenty minute trip the vehicle stopped and the door opened. Stepping out Lu looked around, his eyes slowly adjusting to the bright lights to recognise a massive construction bay with two Gundams sitting in Hangars and a huge mass of debris scattered about in a third. After a minute of looking around a firm hand tapped Lus shouldent and he wheeled about to see a boy who looked about his age smiling a large Cheshire cat smile and brushing a few strands of firey red hair out of his eyes.Off in the corner of the walkway a pretty lady in a fine red military dress suit give Lu a look of slight contempt before dissapearing through a sliding door

The Boy with the Red hairs smile faded and and began to speak in an almost untraceable accent"So youre the new guy huh??...Ok then My name is Koa and Kimos instructed me to build the new suit to your parameters..it was a real bitch looking up the plans since the old council destroyed most of them so I had to add my own twist to some pf the missing blueprints...the..Um chariming lady was Ane, Kimos supposed girl Friend, but since hes condemed the genetic system we 3 were created by shes hada real stick up her ass..well anyways follow me and we'll brainstorm a bit a and get your new Gundam up and running"

Lu, a little startled at how fast Koa could rattle off a sentnce tugged on his collar a bit and smiled back "Yeah, I guess I am the new guy. . . So it will be all new then. . .but Kimo kind of had me confused, saying that we were going to rebuild the Icelancer. . .I know I destroyed the route plans for the important systems, when I got the orders that was. . . ".

"Honestly the internal components are simply a hybrid of Ejis suit and the Malice with some minor upgrades by yours truely *beams with pride* I AM the mastermind behind the Gundams here on earth besides!I guess we could change the name if you wanted, doesent really matter to me as long as we stay on shedual"

"Yeah. . .I don't want another IceLancer. . .That'd be too. . .well. . .too painful for me. . ."

"Yeah well...the Gundams "I" designed werent actually fighing machines..they were actually prototypes for a whole new breed of fighting suits,However after they rolled off the line Kimo stopped more from being produced when most of them were stolen from the OMLAN facilities. You got the short end of the stick with our Recon Radar Model gundam and probably the least fit for a fight of any kind, But now that the Gundams are unique I'm gonna say to hell with the sensors and get you into a suit you can kill shit in"

A slight smile appeared back on Lus face "Yeah, I know. I wasn't going to use half of the sensory mesh. . .that and the extremety of the armor was slowing down the prepulsion to an almost fatal slow speed"

"Good, so it settled then, another problem is the cockpit setup, I havent the slightest how it was set up before an..NO YOU IDIOT, SCAN THE LOWER ARM ACTUATORS DONT TAKE IT OUT, ILL HAVE TO TOtALLY REALIGN THE SHOULDER DRIVES NOW...jesus christ..its so fucking hard to find good help these days...so...where were we talking about"?

Still a bit stunned by the fit Lu stuttered for a second before answering *blinks* "Uh. . .the cockpit setup. . ."

"Ahh yes, Good call thats really important ya know..the remains of the Icelancer were really badly torn up, so well have o salvage some pf the armor for te new suit, but the cockpit was totally destroyed, so sice you helped work on the original I hope you learned enough to work with our techs to redesign one that'll suit and and the new suit, along with any addons you want made....WHO WERE YOU TAUGHT BY? FUCKING PICASSO? WHERE DO "YOU" THINK THE GYRO STABLIZERS GO? ...ill try and find more compitent techs for that though..".

"Funny. . .I'd help with the origional setup, but the reactions from it were too slow to suit me. . .I'd rather something a bit faster, something that I don't have to press multiple buttons, use my hands, and feet at the same time to use. . ."

"Theres not much I can do about the dual joysticks for turns and Torso twisting, but I have been hammering on a side project with my associate Kimo for a Neural net of sorts that would move the limbs, head and cycle monitors by actually sencing brainwves, but we havent been able to test it yet due to the possible side effects....."

Lu cocked his head slightly to the side and agot a ponderous look about his face "That's interesting. . .I was wondering if that could be done. . .You think you can get it hammered out and installed in the new suit"?

Koa happy toi find a new guinea pig smiled broadly "I guess I could leave these idiots to building the basics fo the new suit while I do it, but remeber its still untested, and thers always the possibility of Neural withdrawal"

"So what for side affects. . . If it makes the reaction time any faster, I'll take any risks...but what exaclty ARE the possible side effects?". 

"Its basicly easiest explained like this, some mothers go through a mass depression after giving birth to babies Separation anxiet or something like that, well compaire your brain to the Mother and the suit a giant multiton baby, after piloting the suit for an extended amount of time your brain might become too accustomed to the suit and begin to consider it its true body, and when the suitis shut down the brain takes it as death and your brain dies as the suit shuts down BUT ITS ONLY THEORY..I haven't actually been able to try it out yet for the obvious reason that my genius shouldn't be squandered in such a risky experiment"

"Then make ME the experiment . . .I am expendable. . .someone else can always be trained". ****

Alright, I'm not gonna stop ya, Ill have the system installed and you can have at it"

"That is after this new nameless suit actually starts to take form.....at the rate that theses Sub-Par imbeciles work it might be 3 months before we can get to the hard stuff of actually getting the suit running"

" I can wait. . ."

"Excellent then, if you have any opther suggestions go and talk to chuck, hes the only one here that can match my supierior intellect and he should be able to help out a bit, just throw any ideas you have in his direction before its done and well whip em up lickity split"

"Chuck? Nice name. . . Lucian laughed slightly

"Hey, not everyone is as lucky as we are"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. . .but Chuck . . .that's just kind of. . .well. . .er. . .retarded. . .was he born in Montana or something"?

"Dunno...Nevada I think"

"Makes sense then. . .** ."**

Koaturned away and began to briskly trot on the opposite direction as he spoke his departing sentence "Yep..well Okay then, I'm gonna go and work on that Neural net and see if i can get it functional before too long..I guess Ill catch ya later along the way"

"Yeah, See ya then"

*******

Eji sat in the cockpit of his Gundam and looked out across the hangar. All around in various stages of re-assembly lay his Gundam. It was being re-worked on when the scramble for Malice had come. Apparently Kimo was attacked by one of the Gundam pilots in the IceLancer model Eji was first sent out after. However the pilot, was not Lucian Dysvek. Eji scrambled, suit half finished to the base only to find it in shambles and Icelancer self-detonating. Malice was relatively unhurt as the explosion was limited to the Icelancer , but it needed repairs. Eji had by now settled into life at OMLAN, and now he was helping out on his Gundam as repairs were finished. Coming out of his thoughts Eji's father waved him down from below.

"What is it?" shouted Eji over the din of the hangar repairs.

"It appears they are re-building that Icelancer Gundam. I've been sent to help fix it since yours is just about done anyway." Shouted back Eji's dad.

"Rebuilding the Icelancer. I cant imagine what for…perhaps Kimo is training some new pilots to fight." Thought Eji as he closed the panel before him on the counsel.

"So, is everything going to be all right with me gone?" asked his father again at the pause in Eji's reply.

Eji screwed the cover back on and leaned down towards his father again.

"Yes, should be fine. Now were just putting her back together again. The brain wave alternator is tuned up. I just hope I didn't re-wire her and get my head exploded or anything." Shouted Eji as he looked down at the counsel.

His father replied with a chuckle and waved his hands in the air showing that he had nothing to worry about. Then with a quick grab of some tools off his bench below he left.

Eji sat back in the seat and sighed. With a quick motion of his wrist he turned on the control board and activated his view screen.

"Testing her out now Sir?" asked a young mechanic as he hopped off from above where he was working on the optical computers.

"Yeah Angus, I'm just gonna make sure I got the right brain wave pattern tuned." Said Eji as he rested his hands on the control sticks. Concentrating finely like his father told him Eji began to visualize sweeping across the room with view screens. At first nothing happened but then slowly the screen swept across showing the room.

"Looks like she's a bit slow." Said Angus as he re-aligned the optical computer relay.

Eji sighed a little as he threw in manual control.

"No, she's ok. I'm just still getting the hang of attuning my thoughts with the more finer actions of the gundam. If I use manual control as well I can do fine." Said Eji as he turned off the view screen.

"Why not use that Neural graft brain thingy Koa was working on?" said Angus as he set his wrench down.

"No way, didn't you hear about that. It makes you basically become the Gundam, reaction times are almost non-existent as you become so attuned with the Gundam that you feel like it is a part of you. He also said something about how, that it would be perfect for the pilot, except that one could be trapped in your own mind, perhaps death if your brain got confused about which body was "real". You think I'm that insane?" said Eji as he rattled off about the system untried as of yet that Koa tried to get him to use. Angus laughed.

"Well I figured one brain wave device was just like the other?" said Angus as he pointed at the consol.

"Yeah, well this one doesn't make the Gundam me or vice versa, it just makes it so my exact brain patterns run it more efficiently. Kind of like a big mental key that makes it work better." Said Eji as he got up to get out of the suit.

"Oh laddie, yah mean I canna be taken this for joy rides?" said Angus sarcastically as he dropped into his regional dialect.

Eji waved his hand in reply as he leaped down to the arm below, then swung from an un-operated crane arm, to the floor. Angus laughed as he got back to work on the arm re-alignment.

***

Eji turned the corner and nearly walked into Lucian, who was caught up in his own thoughts. Eji stopped and whisked some of his hair back form his face, as his habit. Lucian looked up and stopped as well. There was a moment of silence, which followed as Eji stared at Lucian. Eji's hair billowed about his face slightly from a gust of wind and Eji casually swept a lock from his face.

"Hello…Eji." Said Lucian as he scratched the back of his head.

"Hello." Said Eji as he crossed his arms before his chest.

"Listen, I'm sorry about what happened up there in space. You have to know I couldn't break my cover." Said Lucian as he apologized extending his hand.

Eji sighed and closed his eyes for a second. He opened them again and took the offered hand.

"It wasn't your fault, I suppose. Apology accepted anyway. Now if you'll excuse me…" said Eji as he nodded to Lu and begin to walk past him.

"If you're looking for Kimo or Koa they are both busy. Kimo's at a conference or something and Koa's locked himself up in his workshop working on something for me." Said Lu as he turned to follow Eji.

"Your not going to try that new neural synching thing are you?" said Eji as he turned to face Lucian.

"Yes, Actually. How'd you know?" said Lucian a little curious.

"Koa tried to get me to use it a little while back. I said no, side effects are too risky for me. Looks like he got himself a new guinea pig though. Watch it or next you'll be doing some new testing for him." Said Eji as he headed to leave towards the mess hall. Lucian followed him and asked him what that meant.

"Just don't get talked into trying out something like, "Automatic zippers." Said Eji. Lu smiled.

"I guess this means we can get along together." Said Lu as they headed to the mess hall. "I mean there's no sense in us avoiding each other. We are on the same team; we might as well work together. Friends or Allies are better than enemies." Said Lu

Eji raised his eyebrows as if to say, "Is it?" then nodded in agreement. They entered the mess hall and headed past a few of the tables and stares from soldiers. These two boys were "Gundam" pilots that alone gave them an awe and mystery about them. Only Kimo was truly worthy of their admiration, but it was comforting to know they fought on their side and not against them. Walking to the last table Eji tossed his work shirt off onto it and headed to the serving line. Lu followed and soon the two boys were sitting down eating there lunches.

"It's weird…" whispered Lucian as they began to eat. Some privates and cadets had just walked in and were now peeking glances at them and whispering among themselves. Sometimes stopping to stare at the two of em. Eji swallowed a bite of his sandwich down and shrugged.

"It was fine when it was just me. But with the fight and the explosion, followed by your arrival, things have kinda taken off. This whole "Gundam" thing is taking a life of its own." Said Eji as he continued to eat.

Lu was a little quiet at the mention of the explosion and Eji saw a flicker of something across Lu's eyes.

"Now that were Gundam pilots, the whole world is resting on our shoulders. All this responsibility shoved onto us, all because of those damn machines." Eji added with a glance toward the hangars.

"Let's talk about something else." Said Lu as he opened up his sandwich.

Eji was quiet then nodded and continued to eat his lunch. Lu assumed correctly that the silence meant it was his turn to talk.

"So how did you end up in this mess of a world-changing conflict?" asked Lu looking for a common link between them aside from their Gundams. 

"My Father." Said Eji almost instantly.

"What? Your father?" asked Lu not understanding.

"My father is a diplomat for OMLAN. Not only that but he was working on my Gundam and surveillance on some of the others. He was sort of a spy." Said Eji

"Really. So you were groomed into this whole thing then? Asked Lu his curiosity piqued.

"No. I was thrown into this unrepentantly. Going after you was my first mission. I took it unwillingly." Replied Eji as he finished up a sandwich.

"You were thrown into this too huh." Said Lu as he thought back to his abduction.

"Yes, the Nanaktu clan and that damn Gundam brought me to this. I had a choice to fight or not…I thought fighting would be better than nothing." Said Eji

Lu thought about that name for a minute. Suddenly it hit him.

"Nanaktu clan? As in the global spanning mafia?" said Lu recalling the notorious crime group who until recently was prominently in power over much of the world.

"Yep. I went to school with Kazami Nanaktu, son of the head of the clan. We have some… "personal" matters to work out with each other." Said Eji unconsciously cracking his knuckles.

Lucian shook his head, like he was apologizing.

"You and the worlds biggest mafia have a history together. You sure pick yourself good enemies." Said Lucian

Eji shrugged and started his second sandwich. Lu followed his example and began to eat the rest of his lunch. Soon the two were walking back towards the hangar. They passed the hangar with Malice in it, and then the hangar with the Icelancer being rebuilt inside. Lu looked at his Gundam with a mixture of awe, hate, and revenge. Eji nodded to the slow assembling Gundam.

"So when is the Icelancer fin…"started Eji

"It's NOT the Icelancer!" Lucian said almost shouting. His fists were clenched, and Eji simply nodded and shrugged.

"Ok, so when is this suit operational?" asked Eji as he tried to ease over the moment. Lu calmed himself and shook the memory of the explosion and his parents away from his mind.

"I'm sorry. It's just that the Icelancer reminds me of a painful past." Said Lucian

Eji nodded. "It's ok, we all have demons from the past. If ya ever need help with 'em, I'm here." Said Eji extending his arm.

Lucian gripped Eji's arm by the forearm as Eji did to him in the symbol of friendship.

"Same here." Said Lucian as they let their handshake part.

Eji smiled as he walked away.

"Careful, I may have to take you up on that…soon." He said as he headed toward the hangar holding his Gundam.

***

_Parts of Lucian written by Arianne, Dorje written by Deby, Kimo written by Kyle, Dacota written by Beau, Eji written by Justin, Aramith written by Sara._ Kayin written by Robin.


End file.
